JUN  22   1995 


.  M  !3 


TWENTY  YEARS 


OF 


Princeton  College 


FAREIVELL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  JUNE  20TH,  1888 


JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LLD.,  Litt.D. 

President  of  Princeton  College 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


THE  COMPLETION  OF  DR.  McCOSH'S  PSYCHOLOGY. 


PSYCHOLOGY. 

I.  The  Cognitive  Powers.     II.  The  Motive  Powers. 


By  JAMES  McCOSH,   D.D.,   LLD.,  Litt.  D. 

President  of  Princeton  College;  Author  of  "Intuitions of  the  Mind,'''  "Laws 
of  Discursive  Thought,"  "Emotions,"  "Philosophic  Series,"  etc. 

Two  Vols.,    12mo;  each,  $1.50. 

The  second  volume,  now  ready,  concludes  this  work  with  the 
discussion  of  the  motive  powers  of  the  mind,  including  the  Con- 
science, Emotions,  and  Will.  The  author  has  treated  the  difficult, 
and,  at  times,  obscure  topics  which  belong  to  the  department  of 
psychology  with  characteristic  clearness,  conciseness,  and  strong 
individuality.  In  the  first  volume  he  treats  of  sense  perception, 
illustrating  his  theme  with  appropriate  cuts,  and  discussing  it 
with  fullness  from  the  physiological  side.  A  third  of  the  book  is 
devoted  to  the  reproductive  or  representative  powers,  in  which 
such  subjects  as  the  recalling  power,  the  association  of  ideas,  the 
power  of  composition,  etc.,  are  described;  while  the  book  con- 
cludes with  a  full  discussion  of  the  comparative  powers. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  INTRODUCTION   OF  VOLUME  II. 

"Having  treated  of  the  Cognitive  Powers  in  Vol.  I.,  I  am  in  this  to 
unfold  the  characteristics  of  the  Motive  Powers,  as  they  are  called  the 
Orective,  the  Appetent,  the  Impulsive  Powers ;  the  feelings,  the  senti- 
ments, the  affections,  the  heart,  as  distinguished  from  the  Gnostic,  the 
cognitive,  the  intellect,  ihe  understanding,  the  reason,  the  head. 

"These  Motive  Powers  fall  under  three  heads — the  Emotions,  the  Con- 
science, the  Will. 

"  It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  these  are  unconnected  with  each  other, 
or  with  the  cognitive;  emotions  contain  an  idea  which  is  cognitive.  The 
Conscience  may  be  regarded  as  combining  characteristics  of  each  of  the 
two  grand  classes,  being  cognitive  as  discerning  good  and  evil,  and  motive 
as  leading  to  action;  the  Will  has  to  use  the  other  powers  as  going  on  to 
action. 

"  Emotion  occupies  more  room  than  the  other  two  in  this  treatise  inas- 
much as  its  operations  are  more  varied,  and  as  the  account  usually  given 
of  it  (so  it  appears  to  me)  is  mo-e  defective." 


TWENTY  YEARS 

OF 

PRINCETON    COLLEGE 


TWENTY  YEARS 


OF 


Princeton  College 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED-JUNE  20TH,  1888 
BY 

JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LLD.,  Litt.D. 

President  of  Princeton  College 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Copyright,  1888,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TWENTY    YEARS 


PRINCETON    COLLEGE, 


Well  do  I  remember  the  evening  in  the  month 
of  May,  1868,  in  which,  on  coming  home  from  my 
work  in  Queen's  College,  Belfast,  I  found  a  despatch 
announcing  that  I  had  been  elected  President  of 
Princeton  College.  The  call  was  utterly  unexpected 
on  my  part.  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  consider  it, 
and  resisting  the  kind  entreaties  of  Queen's  College 
and  of  the  public,  I  resolved  to  accept  the  invitation 
as  presenting  to  me  a  wide  field  of  usefulness,  and 
I  wrote  :  "  I  devote  myself  and  my  remaining  life, 
under  God,  to  old  Princeton,  and  the  religious  and 
literary  interests  with  which  it  is  identified,  and,  I 
fancy,  will  leave  my  bones  in  your  graveyard  beside 
the  great  and  good  men  who  are  buried  there, 
hoping  that  my  spirit  may  mount  to  communion 
with  them  in  heaven." 

I  spent  that  summer  in  inquiring  what  I  should 
do  in  my  new  field.  I  was  well  acquainted  with 
college  education  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  England; 
I  had  visited  the  principal  universities  of  Germany, 


6  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

and  in  1866  had  travelled  seven  thousand  miles  in 
the  United  States,  and  visited  some  of  the  chief 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries  there.  My  busi- 
ness now  was  to  determine  what  I  should  make  of 
Princeton  College,  and  I  proceeded  to  draw  out  the 
methods  which  I  meant  to  pursue  and  embodied 
them  in  an  Inaugural  Address  ready  for  delivery. 

Well  do  I  remember  the  day  of  my  arrival  in 
Princeton,  of  the  welcome  I  received  from  trustees, 
from  the  faculty,  and  from  the  students,  who  gave 
me  their  tiger  salute — of  which  I  was  not  sure  for  a 
few  moments  whether  it  was  a  welcome  or  a  rebuke. 
A  few  days  after  I  got  a  hearty  reception  from  the 
great  public  interested  in  Princeton  College,  as  I 
deHvered  my  Inaugural,  October  27,  1868,  and 
published  it  to  the  world.  I  hold  it  in  my  hand, 
and  I  am  quite  willing  that  any  of  you  should  com- 
pare what  I  then  promised  with  what  I  have  since 
performed — with  many  anxieties  and  many  imper- 
fections. 

It  may  be  pleasant — yet  somewhat  painful — and 
profitable  to  myself,  if  not  to  my  alfc^ience,  to  cast 
our  eyes  over  the  eventful  time,  now  nearly  twenty 
years,  which  has  passed  since  I  entered  on  the  office 
which  I  am  this  day  to  resign.  The  events  are  too 
close  to  me  to  admit  of  my  surveying  them  on  all 
sides.     I  am  too  intimately  connected  with  them  to 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College.  7 

be  able  to  speak  of  them  without  deep  feeHng,  in 
which  there  may  be  not  a  httle  partiaHty.  My 
hearers  will  understand  that  in  speaking-  of  the 
progress  of  the  college  I  do  not  claim  any  exclusive 
merit.  The  credit  is  due  first  to  God's  providence 
which  has  favored  us,  and  under  this  to  trustees,  to 
faculty,  to  students,  to  munificent  benefactors,  to 
innumerable  friends  who  have  prayed  for  us  and 
practically  helped  us — they  are  so  many  that  I  am 
sorry  to  find  that  I  have  not  space  to  name  them  all. 
All  that  I  claim  is  that  I  have  had  the  unspeakable 
privilege  of  being  in  all  the  work  and  in  every  part 
of  it. 

I  came  at  an  opportune  time.  I  owe  any  suc- 
cess I  have  had  to  this  circumstance  more  than  to 
any  other.  The  war  so  disastrous  and  yet  so  glori- 
ous was  over.  Princeton  College  had  suffered — not 
however,  in  honor — but  she  had  numerous  friends, 
and  nobly  did  they  gather  round  her,  and  they  said, 
as  it  were  to  me,  in  language  loud  enough  for  me  to 
hear,  "Do  you  advance  and  we  will  support  you." 
In  those  days  I  was  like  the  hound  in  the  leash 
ready  to  start,  and  they  encouraged  me  with  their 
shouts  as  I  sprang  forth  into  the  hunt. 

When  called  to  this  place  I  was  a  professor  in 
the  youngest  of  the  universities  set  up  by  Great 
Britain  ;  I  had  helped  somewhat  to  form  it,  and  in 


8  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

doing  so  had  to  study  the  European  systems  of 
college  education.  But  I  announced:  "  I  have  no 
design,  avowed  or  secret,  to  revolutionize  your 
American  colleges  or  reconstruct  them  after  a 
European  model."  "  I  have  seen  enough  of  the 
American  colleges  to  become  convinced  that  they 
are  not  rashly  to  be  meddled  with.  They  are  the 
spontaneous  growth  of  your  position  and  intelli- 
gence ;  they  are  associated  with  your  history,  and 
have  become  adjusted  to  your  wants,  and  whatever 
improvements  they  admit  of  must  be  built  on  the 
•old  foundation." 

I  became  heir  at  once  to  a  rich  inheritance 
handed  down  by  a  long  line  of  presidential  ances- 
tors, in  Dickinson,  Burr,  Edwards,  Davis,  Finley, 
Witherspoon,  Stanhope  Smith,  Ashbel  Green,  Car- 
nahan,  and  Maclean.  It  was  my  privilege  to  reap 
what  others  had  sown  ;  I  was  awed,  and  yet  encour- 
aged, by  the  circumstance  that  I  had  to  follow  such 
intellectual  giants  as  Edwards  and  Witherspoon. 
My  immediate  predecessor  was  John  Maclean, 
"the  well  beloved,"  who  watched  over  the  young 
men  so  carefully,  and  never  rebuked  a  student 
without  making  him  a  friend.  But  I  did  not  allow 
myself  to  fall  into  the  weakness  of  trying  to  do  over 
again  what  my  predecessors  had  done  and  done  so 
well.     My  aim  has  been  to  advance  with  the  times 


Tiventy   Years  of  Princeton   College.  9 

and  to  do  a  work  in  my  day  such  as  they  did  in 
theirs. 

My  heart  has  all  along  been  in  my  work,  which 
I  commenced  immediately  after  my  inauguration. 
I  am  now  to  give  some  account  of  that  work  under 
convenient  heads.  I  may  begin  with  the  buildings, 
not  because  they  are  the  most  important,  but 
because  they  strike  the  eye. 

THE  BUILDINGS. 

Every  alumnus  of  the  college  should  come  up 
once  a  year  if  he  lives  not  far  off,  and  once  every 
three  years  if  he  resides  at  a  distance,  to  pay  his 
respects  to  his  Alma  Mater,  who  will  be  sure  to  give 
him  a  welcome.  To  all  who  have  performed  this 
filial  duty  she  has  shown  every  year  for  the  last 
twenty  years  a  new  building,  a  new  fellowship,  or  a 
new  professorship. 

Those  present  at  my  inauguration  heard  the 
shout,  sufficient  to  rend  the  heavens,  when  I 
declared  that  every  college  should  have  a  gymna- 
sium for  the  body  as  well  as  for  the  mind.  Mr. 
Robert  Bonner  and  Mr.  Henry  G.  Marquand 
answered  the  challenge  on  the  part  of  the  students, 
and  as  our  first  benefactors  engaged  to  raise  a 
gymnasium,  which  was  opened  January,  1870,  and 


lO  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

the    most   accomplished   gymnast   In    America   ap- 
pointed as  superintendent. 

I  confess  that  I  was  disappointed  when  I  came 
here  with  the  state  of  the  buildings.  Some  of  the 
recitation  rooms,  especially  those  in  the  building 
now  called  the  college  offices,  were  temptations  to 
disorder,  of  which  the  students  took  advantage. 
At  times  they  would  take  out  the  stove,  and  when 
the  class  met  in  the  morning  they  cried  "cold," 
"  cold,"  and  the  professor  had  to  dismiss  them  ; 
some  of  the  instructors,  however,  keeping  them  in 
the  whole  hour.  I  remember  one  night  when  they 
took  out  the  furniture  of  a  room  and  made  a  bon- 
fire of  it.  In  these  circumstances  we  saw  the  need 
of  having  new  recitation  rooms  of  a  higher  order, 
and  the  stately  structure  of  Dickinson  Hall,  com- 
menced in  1869,  appeared  completed  in  the  campus 
in  1870.  There  the  chief  lectures  and  recitations 
in  the  academic  department  have  been  held  ever 
since,  and  there  from  day  to  day  an  intellectual 
gymnasium  is  kept  up  for  the  strengthening  of  the 
mind.  Meanwhile  our  students  increased,  and  Re- 
union Hall,  so  called  in  honor  of  the  reunion  of  the 
Old  and  New  School  branches  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  was  begun  in  1870,  and  finished  in  1871. 
The  library  and  its  contents  were  unworthy  of  the 
college — the  number  of  volumes  was  under  30,000 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College.  1 1 

■ — and  a  new  library  building,  I  believe  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  country,  was  finished  in  1873,  and 
the  number  of  volumes  is  now  toward  70,000. 

All  this  time  Mr.  John  C.  Green  was  our  great- 
est benefactor,  and  his  brother.  Chancellor  Green, 
was  always  working  with  him.  In  1873  Mr.  J.  C. 
Green  started  the  School  of  Science,  the  most 
important  addition  which  has  been  made  to  the 
college  in  my  day.  Since  his  decease,  in  1875,  his 
wishes  have  been,  carried  out  most  honorably  and 
generously  by  his  trustees ;  the  sum  contributed  by 
his  estate  to  the  good  of  the  college  must  be 
upward  of  a  million  and  a  half.  Of  them,  we  in 
Princeton  may  say,  in  the  language  applied  to  Sir 
Christopher  Wren,  "  si  monumentum  requiris  cir- 
cumspice." 

These  were  the  days  of  our  prosperity,  which 
was  powerfully  promoted  by  the  wise  counsels  and 
the  constant  energies  of  the  Hon.  John  A.  Stewart 
and  Mr.  Henry  M.  Alexander,  without  whom  I 
never  could  have  done  what  I  have  been  enabled 
to  do. 

In  1875  we  were  all  touched  by  the  gift  of 
$15,000,  left  us  by  a  very  promising  young  man, 
Mr.  Hamilton  Murray,  who  perished  at  sea  in  the 
Ville  de  Havre.  That  sum  was  devoted  by  his 
brother  to  the  erection  of  the  hall  which  bears  his 


12  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

name,  and  which  has  become  the  College  Oratory 
in  which  prayer  is  wont  to  be  made  by  the  students, 
and  of  which  it  may  be  said,  "of  this  man  and  that 
man  that  he  was  born  there." 

In  the  same  year  our  visiting  alumni  would  see 
in  Old  North  College  the  beautiful  E.  M.  Museum, 
constructed  by  Mr.  Wm.  Libbey,  and  arranged  so 
tastefully  with  geological  specimens  by  Professor 
Guyot.  To  the  same  gentleman,  Mr.  Libbey,  we 
owe  University  Hall,  erected  at  an  expense  of 
nearly  $200,000,  first  used  as  an  hotel  for  the 
friends  of  the  college,  and  now  as  a  dormitory 
for  our  students. 

Our  numbers  were  increasing,  and  in  1876 
Witherspoon  Hall  was  built,  with  its  elegant  rooms 
and  grand  prospect,  where  the  students  have  not 
only  every  comfort,  but  every  means  of  refining 
their  tastes. 

At  this  point,  1878,  I  have  to  speak  with  grati- 
tude of  the  gift  bestowed  on  the  college  and  on  me 
by  my  friend  the  late  Alexander  Stuart,  of  the 
President's  house  with  the  lovely  accompanying 
grounds,  forming  the  finest  residence  occupied  by 
the  president  of  any  college  in  the  world,  and  where 
I  have  spent  in  comfort  and  elegance  nine  years  of 
my  life. 

In    1878-79    a    telescope,     provided    by    a   few 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         13 

friends,  was  placed  in  the  observatory,  which  had 
been  built  in  1 868  by  General  Halstead,  and  by  it, 
observations  have  been  made  which  let  us  know 
something  of  the  sun  and  planets.  In  the  same  year 
houses  were  built  for  Prof  Young  and  Prof  Brack- 
ett,  and  Edwards'  Hall  was  erected  to  give  students 
rooms  at  a  lower  rate. 

In  1881-82  Mr.  Henry  G.  Marquand  erected 
the  College  Chapel,  the  most  beautiful  in  America, 
and  there  the  members  of  the  college  will  worship 
on  Sabbath  and  on  week  days  for  ages  to  come, 
and  draw  down  blessings  on  the  college  and  its  stu- 
dents in  all  future  time. 

And  now  you  see  that  Biological  Museum 
nearly  completed,  the  noble  gift  of  the  Class  of 
1877,  and  where  experiments  will  continually  be 
made,  by  a  number  of  our  younger  professors,  to 
throw  light  on  the  mysteries  of  life. 

As  the  Marquand  family  had  done  so  much  for 
Art — Mr.  Frederick  Marquand's  trustees  having 
given  $60,000  for  the  endowment  of  a  chair — I  was 
determined  that  there  should  be  an  Art  Museum 
for  carrying  out  their  intentions  ;  and  departing  from 
my  usual  practice,  I  went  round  to  receive  subscrip- 
tions, and  raised  $42,000,  given  in  the  most  gener- 
ous manner  by  about  a  dozen  contributors.  That 
museum  is   in  the  course  of  erection,  and  will  be 


14     '     Twenty   Years  of  Princetori  College. 

ready  early  next  year  to  receive  the  fine  collection  ' 
of  pottery  and  porcelain   promised  by  Dr.   W.  C. 
Prime. 

THE  GROUNDS. 

I  'remember  the  first  view  which  I  got  of  the 
pleasant  height  on  which  the  college  stands,  the 
highest  ground  between  the  two  great  cities  of  the 
Union,  looking  down  on  a  rich  country,  covered 
with  wheat  and  corn,  with  apples  and  peaches, 
resembling  the  south  of  England  as  much  as  one 
country  can  be  like  another.  Now  we  see  that 
height  covered  with  buildings,  not  inferior  to  those 
of  any  other  college  in  America.  I  have  had  great 
pleasure  in  my  hours  of  relaxation  in  laying  out — 
always  assisted  by  the  late  Rev.  W.  Harris,  the 
treasurer  of  the  college — the  grounds  and  walks 
and  locating  the  buildingrs.  I  have  laid  them  out 
somewhat  on  the  model  of  the  demesnes  of  English 
noblemen.  I  have  always  been  healthiest  when  so 
employed.  I  remember  the  days,  sunshine  or 
cloudy,  in  April  and  November,  on  which  I  cut 
down  dozens  of  deformed  trees  and  shrubs,  and 
planted  hundreds  of  new  ones  which  will  live  when 
I  am  dead.  I  do  not  believe  that  I  will  be  allowed 
to  come  back  from  the  other  world  to  this  ;  but  if 
this  were  permitted,   I    might   be   allured  to  visit 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College,  15 

these  scenes  so  dear  to  me,  and  to  see  the  tribes  on 
a  morning  go  up  to  the  house  of  God  in  companies. 

COURSE  OF  STUDY. 

I  never  looked  on  these  buildings  as  constituting 
our  chief  work.  I  remember  that  some  critics  found 
fault  with  me  for  laying  out  too  much  money  on 
stone  and  lime.  But  I  proceeded  on  system,  and 
knew  what  I  was  doing.  I  viewed  the  edifices  as 
means  to  an  end^  at  best  as  outward  expressions 
and  symbols  of  an  internal  life. 

I  said  to  myself  and  I  said  to  others,  We  have  a 
fine  old  college  here,  with  many  friends  ;  why  should 
we  not  make  it  equal  to  any  college  in  America,  and 
in  the  end  to  any  in  Europe  ?  The  friends  of  the 
Princeton  saw  I  was  in  earnest,  and  nobly  did  they 
encourage  me.  I  shall  never  forget  the  substantial 
kindness  I  received  at  that  time.  I  could  not  walk 
up  Broadway  without  some  one  coming  up  to  me 
and  saying,  Dp  not  you  want  so  and  so  ?  I  will 
help  you  to  get  it.  As  he  met  me,  Mr.  John  C. 
Green  took  me  into  a  corner  and  told  me  that  he 
meant  to  offer  to  erect  a  certain  building,  adding  that 
"  if  I  die  before  this  is  done,  I  have  drawn  out  pa- 
pers to  secure  its  execution." 

I  had  to  consider  at  the  beginning  what  would  be 
the  course  of  study  in  the  college.     I  resolved,  on  the 


1 6  Tiventy   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

one  hand,  to  keep  all  that  was  good  in  the  old 
studies  which  had  trained  our  fathers.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  saw  there  were  new  branches  entitled 
to  be  placed  alongside  the  old.  The  problem  with 
me  was  to  make  a  judicious  combination  of  the 
two.  In  the  winter  after  I  entered  upon  my  duties, 
a  joint  committee  of  the  trustees  and  of  the  Faculty 
held  a  number  of  meetings,  which  ended  in  our 
drawing  out  a  scheme  which,  with  important  modifi- 
cations and  improvements,  has  been  continued  to  this 
day.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  our  students 
and  of  the  branches  taught  will  now  require  some 
new  modifications,  but  I  hope  they  will  run  in  the 
same  line. 

ELECTIVE  STUDIES. 

Hitherto  all  the  students  had  been  required  to 
take  the  same  course  of  study,  being  the  good  old 
solid  one  handed  down  from  our  fathers.  But  this 
was  felt  to  be  irksome  by  many  who  were  weary  of 
studying  Mathematics,  Latin  and  Greek  all  the  four 
years  of  their  course  while  there  were  new  and  at- 
tractive branches  of  literature  and  science  from  which 
they  were  excluded.  The  principle  on  which  we 
acted  was  that  an  endeavor  should  be  made  to  intro- 
duce into  the  college  every  department  of  true 
scholarship  and  knowledge,  taking  care  to  leave  out 


Tiventy   Years  of  Princeton  College.         17 

all  that  was  fictitious  and  pretentious.  But  as  we 
projected  new  branches  we  discovered  that  they  were 
so  numerous  that  we  could  not  impose  them  all  with- 
out burdening  the  minds  of  the  students  on  the  one 
hand,  or  on  the  other  making  them  "  Jacks  of  all 
trades  and  masters  of  none."  Every  one  sees  that  the 
day  of  universal  scholars,  such  as  Aristotle,  Scaliger, 
and  Leibnitz,  has  gone  by  and  can  never  return.  Not 
only  have  the  physical  sciences  been  multiplying,  but 
all  departments  of  philology,  of  historical,  social,  and 
philosophic  study.  Hence  the  necessity  of  allowing 
electives  in  the  curriculum  of  study. 

But  we  need  to  lay  restraints  on  electives.  Surely 
we  are  not  to  allow  candidates  for  A.  B.  and  A. 
M.  to  choose  what  studies  they  please.  These  two 
deofrees  have  hitherto  had  a  meanins^,  and  it  should 
be  kept,  so  that  those  who  have  gained  it  may  be 
recognized  as  scholars.  An  indiscriminate  choice 
holds  out  a  temptation,  which  many  are  not  able  to 
resist,  to  take  the  easiest  subjects — say  narrative 
history — or  those  taught  by  easy-going  or  popular 
teachers  who  may  or  may  not  exact  systematic  study. 
I  hold  that  there  are  branches  which  are  necessary 
to  the  full  development  of  the  mind,  which  every 
educated  man  ought  to  know.  No  one  I  think 
should  be  a  graduate  of  a  college  who  does  not 
know  mathematics  and  classics,  the  one  to  solidify 


1 8  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College, 

the  reasoning'  powers   and  the  other  to  refine   the 
taste. 

On  a  memorable  occasion  I  defended  Greek  as 
an  obHgatory  study  in  our  colleges.  Greek  and 
Latin  have  been  in  fact  the  main  instrument  in  trans- 
mitting to  us  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  world. 
Greek  is  the  most  perfect  language,  and  contains  the 
highest  literature,  of  antiquity.  The  learned  profes- 
sions generally,  but  particularly  the  churches,  have 
a  special  interest  in  retaining  this  tongue.  Suppose 
it  not  to  be  required  in  our  colleges,  it  would  soon 
come  not  to  be  required  in  our  schools,  and  so  a  large 
body  of  our  students  would  be  ignorant  of  it.  Now 
suppose  a  student  to  have  his  heart  touched  by  a 
divine  power  about  the  time  when  young  men  com- 
monly choose  their  profession  in  life.  He  feels 
himself  called  on  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry  of  the  Word.  But  in  order  to  this  he  has  to 
learn  the  language  of  the  New  Testament,  beginning 
with  its  letters.  Here  an  obstacle  is  presented 
which  will  effectively  prevent  many  from  going  to 
the  work  to  which  they  are  called.  It  is  certain  that 
a  college  which  does  not  require  Greek  will  not  pre- 
pare many  to  go  forth  as  ministers  or  missionaries. 
This  would  be  a  great  evil  not  only  to  the  churches, 
but  to  the  community  generally.  The  devout  young 
men  who  are  studying  for  the  ministry  have  a  re- 
strainincf  and  elevatine  influence  in  a  collcee. 


Twenty  Years  of  Princeton   College.  ig 

In  Princeton  there  are  certain  branches  which  are 
required  of  all  in  the  Academic  Apartment :  Latin 
and  Greek  ;  English  ;  Oratory  ;  Essay  Writing  ; 
French  and  German  ;  Physics  ;  Astronomy  ;  Geol- 
ogy ;  Psychology ;  Logic  and  Ethics ;  Relation 
of  Science  and  Religion.  Again,  we  have  a 
fixed  course  for  every  year.  In  the  Freshman  and 
Sophomore  years  there  is  little  or  no  variation  al- 
lowed. But  when  a  student  has  learned  the  rudi- 
mentary branches  and  enters  the  Junior  class,  we 
believe  that  he  may  be  allowed,  in  addition  to  the 
required  studies,  a  choice,  both  in  Junior  and  Senior 
years,  among  a  large  number  of  the  new  subjects  in- 
troduced into  the  colleges — additions  being  made  to 
them  every  year.  I  reckon  that  usually  in  these  two 
upper  classes  about  one-half  a  student's  time  is  given 
to  the  required  and  the  other  half  to  the  elective 
studies.  In  choosing  he  may  take  the  old  branches 
or  he  may  take  the  new  ones.  The  advantage  of  all 
this  is  that  the.  student  may  consult  and  gratify  his 
tastes— we  find  that  an  intense  interest  is  taken  by 
certain  students  in  the  new  studies — or  the  student 
may  elect  the  branch  or  branches  fitted  to  prepare 
him  for  his  intended  profession  in  life.  One  mean- 
ing to  be  a  minister  will  probably  elect  some  branch 
of  philosophy  ;  the  intending  doctor  will  probably 
take  botany  and  zoology  ;  and  the  lawyer  history  or 
social  sciences. 


20  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

In  both  the  required  and  in  the  elective  courses 
a  college  should  seek  to  instruct  students  carefully 
in  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  branch  which 
they  are  studying.  There  is  a  loud  demand  in  the 
present  day  for  college  education  being  made  what 
they  call  "  practical,"  I  believe  that  this  is  a  mis- 
take, A  well-known  shipbuilder  once  said  to  me, 
"  Do  not  try  to  teach  my  art  in  school ;  see  that  you 
make  the  youth  intelligent,  and  then  I  will  easily  teach 
him  shipbuilding."  The  business  of  a  college  is  to 
teach  scientific  principles  capable  of  all  sorts  of  prac- 
tical application.  The  youth  thus  trained  will  start 
life  in  far  better  circumstances  than  those  who  have 
learned  only  the  details  of  their  craft,  which  are  best 
learned  in  offices,  stores  and  factories,  and  will  com- 
monly far  outstrip  them  in  the  rivalries  of  life.  He 
will  be  able  to  advance  when  others  are  obliged  to 
stop  ;  he  will  be  ready  to  take  advantage  of  oppor- 
tunities which  are  lost  to  them,  and  will  commonly 
advance  the  business  in  which  he  is  engaged. 

FELLOWSHIPS  AND  PRIZES. 

I  have  often  been  asked.  How  do  the  American 
colleges  stand  in  comparison  with  the  European  ones? 
I  believe  I  can  answer  that  question.  The  scholar- 
ship of  the  great  body  of  the  students  is  as  high  in 
America   as    in    Europe.     But   they  rear   in   Great 


Tzucnty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 


21 


Britain  and  in  Germany  a  body  of  ripe  scholars  to 
whom  we  have  nothing  equal  in  the  New  World. 
This  led  me  to  propose  that  we  should  institute  Fel- 
lowships in  Princeton  College.  At  an  early  stage 
there  were  friends  who  established  Fellowships  in 
Mental  Science,  in  Classics  (lapsed),  in  Mathematics, 
and  Experimental  Science,  and  at  a  later  date  in 
Biology,  each  providing  $600  a  year  to  the  student 
who  stood  highest  in  a  competitive  examination. 
Latterly  some  of  our  younger  alumni  have  been 
adding  University  Fellowships,  one  in  Social  Sci- 
ence, one  in  Biological  Science,  one  in  English,  and 
probably  one  in  Philosophy,  each  yielding  $400  or 
$5oo  a  year,  and  open  to  the  graduates  not  only  of 
Princeton,  but  every  other  authorized  college.  These 
Fellowships  have  given  a  powerful  stimulus  to  study, 
and  enabled  us  to  produce  scholarship  of  a  high 
order. 

This  may  be  the  proper  place  to  refer  to  the 
prizes  received  during  my  presidency  :  The  Lynde 
Prize  for  Power  of  Debating  ;  the  Alexander  Guthrie 
McCosh  Prize  for  Philosophic  Essay ;  the  Baird 
Prizes  for  Oratory  ;  the  1876  Class  Prize  for  a  de- 
bate on  Politics;  Class  1883  Atwater  Prize  in 
Political  Economy ;  the  White  Prize  in  Archi- 
tecture. 


2  2  Twenty    Year's  of  Princeton  College. 

PROFESSORS. 

When  I  became  President,  the  number  giving 
instruction  was  ten  professors,  four  tutors,  two  teach- 
ers, in  all  sixteen,  beside  three  extraordinary  lectur- 
ers. Some  of  the  younger  classes  were  taught 
solely  by  tutors.  I  think  it  of  importance  to  have  a 
succession  of  young  men  teaching  in  a  college  to 
o-ive  fresh  life  to  it,  and  out  of  whom  to  draw  pro- 
fessors. But  I  believed  that  every  class  should  have 
at  least  one  man  of  experience  giving  it  instruction, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  all  freshmen  should  be 
under  one  or  more  professors.  The  professors  then 
were  chiefly  men  of  mature  life,  of  high  ability 
and  character.  In  adding  new  branches  we  had  to 
o-et  new  professors.  It  was  my  duty  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  trustees  to  suitable  persons  for  the 
new  or  for  the  vacant  offices.  In  doing  so  I  looked 
out  for  scholarly  men,  wherever  I  could  hear  of 
them.  If  I  found  that  they  were  not  available  or 
not  likely  to  promote  the  moral  and  religious  wel- 
fare of  the  students,  I  thought  no  more  of  them  ; 
and  I  continued  to  inquire  till  I  was  able  to  recom- 
mend one  whose  influence  would  be  altogether  for 
o-ood.  In  pursuing  this  course  we  have  taken  sev- 
eral able  men  from  other  colleges. 

But  I  have  often  had  great  difficulty  in  getting 


Tzuenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         23 

a  full  endowment  for  a  professor's  chair — more  dif- 
ficulty than  in  getting  a  building.  So  we  set  ourselves 
earnestly  to  the  work  of  rearing  professors.  We 
kept  our  eye  upon  our  promising  graduates,  and 
appointed  them  tutors  or  instructors,  with  a  small 
salary,  and  then  raised  them  to  the  position  of  assist- 
ant professors,  or  full  professors.  Thus  the  Board 
of  Trustees  has  chosen  three  professors  from  the  class 
of  1874  ^^d  six  from  the  class  of  1877.  So  we 
have  been  adding  new  professors  from  year  to  year. 
The  number  of  professors  is  now  thirty-five,  with 
three  tutors  and  several  assistants  and  lecturers—  in 
all  upwards  of  forty.  We  have  three  professors  of 
Mental  Philosophy,  three  of  Greek,  two  of  Latin,  three 
of  Mathematics,  three  of  English  including  Oratory, 
two  of  History  and  Political  Science,  three  of  Mod- 
ern Languages,  two  of  Physics,  two  of  Astronomy, 
two  of  Chemistry,  three  of  the  Natural  Sciences, 
including  Botany,  Zoology  and  Geology,  three  of 
Engineering,  and  two  of  Art.  We  have  professors 
who  teach  the  Harmony  of  Science  and  Religion, 
who  teach  Anglo-Saxon,  who  teach  Oratory,  who 
teach  Pedagogic,  who  teach  Sanscrit,  who  teach 
Physiological  Psychology,  who  teach  Physical  Geog- 
raphy, who  teach  Anatomy  and  Physiology.  P2very 
student  is  required  every  year  to  write  a  number  of 
essays.     I  am  not  sure  that  there  is  any  college  in 


24  Twenty    Years  of  Princeton  College. 

America  which  has  so  well  an  arranged  system  of 
essay  writing.  Princeton  College  has  always  paid 
attention  to  public  speaking  and  we  have  kept  this 
up,  by  requiring  every  student,  unless  incapacitated 
by  physical  weakness,  to  speak  before  a  public  audi- 
ence. The  strength  of  our  college  lies  in  its  staff 
of  professors.  I  am  proud  of  those  whom  I  have 
recommended  to  the  trustees.  We  give  instruction 
in  a  greater  number  of  branches  than  are  usually 
taught  in  the  universities  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  and  in  nearly  all  the  branches  taught  in 
Germany. 

I  have  pleasure  in  stating  that  the  Faculty  has  all 
along  stood  in  the  most  pleasant  relationship  towards 
me.  I  regard  all  the  members  as  personal  friends. 
I  am  bound  to  say  that  they  watch  over  the  interests 
of  the  college  with  great  faithfulness. 

APPARATUS  AND  COLLECTIONS. 

Along  with  the  increase  of  professors,  our  friends 
have  purchased  for  us  a  large  increase  of  scientific 
apparatus.  In  several  departments  almost  every 
new  instrument  of  value  has  been  provided.  When 
I  came  here,  the  natural  science  collection,  saving 
only  what  was  done  in  physical  geography  by  Dr. 
Guyot,  was  particularly  defective,  fit  only  to  be 
turned.     Now  we  have  most  valuable  collections  in 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.  25 

botany  and  geology.  For  several  years  we  have 
been  enabled  to  send  companies  of  students  to  make 
summer  explorations  in  the  West.  Lying  on  the 
ground  at  night,  they  were  employed  all  day  in  col- 
lecting plants  and  fossils,  some  of  which  are  very 
rare  and  of  great  value.  These  have  been  placed 
in  our  museum,  which  is  visited  in  consequence  by 
many   scientists. 

CONTRIBUTION  TO   LITERATURE   AND  SCIENCE. 

Our  professors  have  not  only  been  attending  to 
their  work  in  the  college  as  instructors,  but  have  been 
widening  the  field  of  knowledge,  each  in  his  own 
department.  I  at  one  time  thought  of  printing  as  an 
appendix  to  this  address  a  list  of  the  books,  pamph- 
lets, and  articles  published  by  our  professors  since  I 
came  here,  but  I  found  that  it  would  double  the  size 
of  this  volume.  The  classical  professors  have  been 
publishing  text-books  which  are  used  in  a  number  of 
our  institutions.  Our  scientific  teachers  have  been 
issuing  volumes  and  papers  of  great  value,  and  all  of 
them  increasing  our  knowledge  of  certain  depart- 
ments of  nature.  The  Princeton  Reviezu  has  all  along 
been  conducted  by  Princeton  editors  :  Dr.  Hodge, 
Dr.  Atwater,  and  Mr.  Jonas  Libbey,  and  now  with 
great  ability   in    a    new  form  by  Professor  Sloane. 


26  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

The  valuable  Archcsological  Jouriial  is  edited  by  one 
of  our  younger  professors. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  the  students  issue  three 
periodicals.  The  Nassaic  Literary  Magazine  has  all 
along  been  an  organ  of  a  high  character,  and  con- 
tains solid  articles  of  superior  literary  ability.  The 
Princetonian  some  years  ago  was  in  the  way  of 
attacking  the  Faculty.  Now  it  is  conducted  in  the 
most  admirable  spirit — only  it  gives  more  space  to 
gymnastics  than  to  literature.  "  Pray,"  said  an  Ox- 
ford Don  to  me  after  reading  several  numbers,  "are 
you  the  President  of  a  gymnastic  institution?"  It 
shows  the  spirit  that  reigns  in  our  college  that  we 
have  now  a  religious  organ,  The  Philadelphian, 
containing  high  class  articles  fitted  to  do  good 
among  the  students. 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  SCIENCE. 

Our  School  of  Science  has  a  body  of  able  profes- 
sors. It  gives  instruction  in  mathematics,  in  the 
various  branches  of  physical  science,  and  in  modern 
lanofuaofes.  We  seek  to  make  its  students  educated 
gentlemen,  and  not  mere  scientists.  We  require 
Latin  (or  in  engineering,  French)  on  the  part  of 
those  who  enter.  All  the  students  receive  instruc- 
tion in  English  and  write  essays.  To  preserve 
them  from  the  materialistic  tendencies  of  the  day, 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College.  2  J 

they  are  required  to  attend  the  classes  either  of 
Psychology  or  Logic.  It  is  evident  that  this  school, 
which  has  now  ninety-two  students,  will  rise  every 
year  in  public  estimation.  Our  two  departments, 
the  Academic  and  the  Scientific,  send  out  every  year 
a  large  body  of  educated  young  men  to  occupy 
important  positions  all  over  the  country. 

PHILOSOPHY  IN  PRINCETON. 

As  we  added  branch  after  branch,  it  was  found 
that  we  could  arrange  them,  the  old  and  the  new, 
into  three  grand  departments  :  Language  and 
Literature,  Science,  and  Philosophy.  We  did  not 
separate  these  absolutely,  but  we  have  constantly 
kept  the  distinction  in  view.  I  remember  the  day 
when  Mrs.  Robert  L.  Stuart  came  down  to  Princeton 
and  handed  me  $154,000,  to  enable  me  to  establish  a 
school  of  philosophy. 

As  the  head  of  the  college,  I  have  endeavored  to 
give  each  of  our  varied  departments  its  own  place, 
and  carefully  to  arrange  a  balance  of  studies,  so  as  to 
keep  the  minds  of  the  students  from  being  one-sided, 
and  therefore  narrow  and  exclusive.  But  while  I 
was  President  I  became  also  a  professor,  and  I  am 
glad  that  I  did  so,  for  I  was  thereby  brought  into 
closer  relationship  with  the  students,  and  came  to 
know  them  better. 


28  Twenty    Years  of  Prince to7i   College. 

Following  my  tastes,  I  have  endeavored  to  create 
and  sustain  an  interest  in  all  branches  of  mental  phi- 
losophy. I  have  usually  been  teaching  three  depart- 
ments :  Psychology,  the  History  of  Philosophy,  and 
Contemporary  Philosophy,  and  have  branched  off 
into  ^Esthetics  and  Metaphysics.  The  other  two 
mental  sciences,  LoQ^ic  and  Ethics,  have  been  tauo-ht 
by  Professor  Ormond  and  Professor  Patton.  I  strove 
to  make  the  study  attractive,  and  have  commonly 
had  under  me  upwards  of  two  hundred  students,  many 
of  them  elective.  In  connection  with  my  classes  I  had 
library  meetings  in  my  house,  in  which  papers  were 
read  on  philosophic  subjects  by  alumni  and  others 
and  afterwards  discussed  by  students  of  the  upper 
classes,  and  occasionally  by  professors.  The  at- 
tendance was  at  first  about  a  dozen,  but  it  soon 
rose  to  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
Many  will  remember  all  their  lives  the  stimulating 
effects  of  these  meetings. 

In  my  teaching  I  have  followed  the  plan  of  the 
German  professors,  first  lecturing  on  the  subject,  and 
after  a  time  giving  my  expositions  to  the  world  in 
published  volumes.  The  public  has  not  always  fol- 
lowed my  philosophy,  but  has  given  me,  what  greater 
men  than  I  have  not  been  able  to  gain — a  hearing, 
botji  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain.  I  am 
gratified   to    find    my  college  lectures   on   Psychol- 


Tzvcnty   Years  of  Princeton   College.         29 

ogy  and  Logic  (in  Queen's  College,  Belfast)  in  a 
great  many  upper  schools  and  in  a  number  of  col- 
leges in  America.  Dr.  Duff,  the  great  missionary, 
sent  me  a  message  on  his  deathbed,  to  prepare  a 
text-book  on  mental  science  for  India,  to  save  them 
from  materialism  diligently  taught  them  by  books 
from  England.  This  I  have  now  done  in  my  two 
small  volumes  on  Psychology,  which  have  been  sanc- 
tioned by  the  University  of  Calcutta,  while  steps  are 
being  taken  to  have  them  adopted  in  other  colleges 
in  India.  Pupils  of  mine  are  using  them  in  Japan 
and  Ceylon.  My  pupils  may  be  pleased  to  learn 
that  the  lectures  which  I  delivered  to  them  are 
reproduced  in  these  distant  lands.  So  early  as  my 
college  days  in  Scotland,  I  was  so  ambitious  as  to 
hope  that  I  might  some  day  produce  a  work  on  phi- 
losophy ;  little  did  I  dream  that  it  would  be  used  in 
western  America  and  in  eastern  Asia. 

I  am  represented  as  being  of  the  Scottish  school 
of  philosophy.  I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  country, 
certainly  not  of  my  country's  philosophy.  I  was 
trained  in  it.  I  adhere  to  it  in  one  important  princi- 
ple :  I  believe  that  the  truths  of  mental  philosophy 
are  to  be  discovered  by  a  careful  observation  and 
induction  of  what  passes  in  the  mind.  Not  that  our 
observation  and  induction  gives  them  their  authority  ; 
they  have  their  authority  in  themselves  ;  but  it  is 


30  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

thus  we  discover  them.  But  in  other  respects  I  differ 
from  the  Scottish  school.  I  profess  to  get  my  phi- 
losophy from  the  study  of  the  human  mind  directly, 
and  not  from  the  teaching  of  others.  The  Scottish 
school  maintains  that  we  know  only  the  qualities 
of  things  ;  I  say  we  know  the  things  themselves. 
Hamilton  makes  our  knowledge  relative  ;  I  make  it 
positive.  So  I  call  my  philosophy  Realism,  and  by 
help  of  a  few  obvious  distinctions  I  hope  to  estab- 
lish it.  America  has  as  yet  no  special  philosophy  of 
its  own.  I  long  to  see  it  have  such.  This  must  be 
taken  directly  from  the  study  of  the  mind,  and  not 
from  Germany  or  any  other  source.  My  ambition  is 
to  aid  a  little  in  the  foundation  of  an  American  phi- 
losophy which,  as  a  philosophy  of  facts,  will  be  found 
to  be  consistent  with  a  sound  theology. 

POST-GRADUATE  STUDENTS. 

From  an  early  period  of  my  presidency  we  have 
had  post-graduate  students.  We  have  always  thrown 
open  our  doors  to  them.  We  encourage  them  be- 
cause it  is  out  of  them  we  hope  to  make  scholars. 
In  our  crowded  curriculum  we  cannot  expect  in  the 
under-graduate  course  of  study  to  produce  a  high 
erudition  in  any  one  department.  But  when  stu- 
dents come  up  to  us  after  graduation  and  take  up 
earnestly  one  or  two  departments,  we  can  carry  them 


Tzventy   Years  of  Pr  meet  on   College.         31 

on  to  very  high  attainments,  and  it  may  be  prepare 
them  to  be  professors.  The  number  of  our  graduate 
students  has  been  gradually  increasing.  This  last 
year  we  have  had  seventy-eight.  I  have  commonly 
had  upwards  of  forty,  most  of  them  students  from 
the  seminary,  studying  the  higher  questions  of  phi- 
losophy. These  graduate  classes  will  force  us  on  to 
become  a  university. 

We  have  devised  and  published  a  way  by  which 
higher  degrees  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  Doctor  of 
Science,  Doctor  of  Literature,  and  Bachelor  of  The- 
ology may  be  obtained  from  us  by  the  graduates  of 
any  college,  without  residence,  by  pursuing  a  course 
of  study  and  standing  an  examination.  This  is  a 
measure  full  of  promise,  and  I  hope  will  be  carried 
out  when  I  retire.  It  will  gather  round  us  a  body  of 
men  eagerly  pursuing  high  studies. 

ALUMNI  ASSOCIATIONS. 

I  think  I  may  claim  to  have  taken  great  pains  to 
keep  our  graduates  in  close  connection  with  the  col- 
lege. I  have  set  up  a  great  many  alumni  associa- 
tions (there  are  in  all  eighteen),  and  have  often 
visited  them,  travelling  hundreds  and  some  years 
thousands  of  miles  for  this  purpose,  and  reporting 
the  state  of  the  college  as  I  went  along.  I  have 
enjoyed   these    meetings  with    the    graduates,  and 


32  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

have  returned  with  a  most  valuable  knowledge  of 
what  the  community  expects  of  the  college.  I  pro- 
posed several  years  ago  that  the  Alumni  should 
have  authority  to  appoint  an  Advisory  committee, 
with  power  to  give  recommendations  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees  and  to  enter  any  class-room.  The  pro- 
posal was  not  adopted.  It  may  come  up  in  some 
future  year. 

OUR  FUNDS. 

I  am  not  to  give  an  account  of  our  finances,  which 
have  been  carefully  watched  over  by  Mr.  John  A. 
Stewart  and  Mr.  Charles  Green.  Some  of  our 
friends  do  not  let  their  left  hand  know  what  their 
right  hand  doeth,  and  so  I  am  not  able  to  speak  with 
precision  of  the  gifts  we  have  received.  I  believe 
that  nearly  three  millions  have  been  contributed 
to  the  college  during  my  tenure  of  office.  The 
principle  on  which  we  have  proceeded  has  been 
never  to  contract  any  debt  and  never  to  lay  up  any 
money.  Only  on  one  occasion  did  we  contract  any 
large  amount  of  debt,  and  Mr.  R.  L.  Stuart,  who 
contributed  $100,000,  joined  some  of  our  trustees  in 
paying  it  off.  We  are  laboring  under  no  debt  at 
this  moment.  But  the  trustees  will  require  to  cast 
themselves  on  the  friends  of  the  college  to  enable 
them  to  fulfil  the  obligations  which  they  have  con- 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         2iZ 

tracted   on   the   retiring  of  one  president  and  the 
appointment  of  another. 

I  may  mention  here  that,  to  encourage  struggHng 
young  men,  we  have  funds  contributed  by  generous 
friends  whereby  we  give  scholarships  of  |Joo  a 
year  each,  and  $30  more  if  they  intend  to  be  minis- 
ters, to  one  hundred  and  seventy  students.  Dr. 
Duffield  manages  these  funds  with  great  care  and 
kindness. 

OUR  CONTRIBUTORS. 

I  am  sorry  that  my  space  does  not  allow  of  my 
mentioning  the  names  of  the  many  contributors  to 
our  college  funds.  Some  of  them  have  been  referred 
to  in  the  course  of  my  narrative.  I  must  refer  to  a 
few  others.  The  Hon.  John  I.  Blair  has  watched 
over  our  college  with  very  great  care,  has  endowed 
the  chair  of  Geology,  and  has  lately  given  |20,ooo  to 
the  increase  of  professors'  salaries.  Mr.  Lynde  has 
given  three  prizes  for  excellence  in  debate.  A  gen- 
tleman who  has  given  us  only  his  initials  has  founded 
a  Mathematical  Fellowship  and  a  large  prize  to  the 
Freshman  Class.  Mr.  Charles  O.  Baird  has  fur- 
thered oratory  by  his  prizes  to  the  Junior  Class.  We 
have  received  a  most  v^aluable  set  of  papers  on  the 
late  war  from  Mr.  Pierson.  You  may  notice  that 
kind  friends  have  enabled  me  to  complete  the  work 


34 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 


begun  by  Dr.  Maclean,  and  to  hang  up  in  the 
Museum  portraits  of  all  the  presidents  of  the  college 
and  of  other  eminent  men  connected  with  it. 

OUR  NUMBERS. 

In  consequence  of  the  improvements  of  our  teach- 
ing and  our  courses,  our  numbers  have  been  slowly 
but  gradually  increasing. 


Years. 

Students. 

Years. 

Students. 

In  1867-8 

264 

1878-9 

473 

1868-9 

281 

1879-80 

481 

1869-70 

328 

18S0-I 

488 

1 870-1 

364 

1881-2 

537 

1871-2 

379 

1882-3 

572 

1872-3 

376 

1883-4 

523 

1873-4 

417 

1884-5 

519 

1874-5 

408 

1885-6 

497 

1875-6 

483 

1886-7 

539 

1876-7 

472 

1887-8 

604 

1877-8 

496 

It  will  be  thus  seen  that  our  numbers  have  more 
than  doubled — from  264  to  upwards  of  600. 

THE  PROPOSED  UNIVERSITY. 

I  think  it  proper  to  state  that  I  meant  all  along 
that  these  new  and  varied  studies,  with  their  group- 
ings and  combinations,  should  lead  to  the  formation 
of  a  Sttidiiim  Generale,  which  was  supposed  in  the 
Middle  Ages  to  constitute  a  university.  At  one 
time  I  cherished  a  hope  that  I  might  be  honored  to 
introduce  such  a  measure.     From  my  intimate  ac- 


Tiventy   Years  of  Princeton   College.         35 

quaintance  with  the  systems  of  Princeton  and  other 
colleges,  I  was  so  vain  as  to  think  that  out  of  our 
available  materials  I  could  have  constructed  a  uni- 
versity of  a  high  order.  I  would  have  embraced  in 
it  all  that  is  good  in  our  college  ;  in  particular,  I 
would  have  seen  that  it  was  pervaded  with  religion, 
as  the  college  is.  I  was  sure  that  such  a  step  would 
have  been  followed  by  a  large  outflow  of  liberality 
on  the  part  of  the  public,  such  as  we  enjoyed  in 
the  early  days  of  my  presidency.  We  had  had  the 
former  rain,  and  I  hoped  we  might  have  the  latter 
rain,  and  we  could  have  given  the  institution  a 
wider  range  of  usefulness  in  the  introduction  of 
new  branches  and  the  extension  of  post-graduate 
studies.  But  this  privilege  has  been  denied  me.  I 
have  always  been  prepared  to  contend  with  the 
enemies  of  the  college,  but  I  am  not  ready  to  fight 
with  its  greatest  benefactors.  So  I  retire.  The 
college  has  been  brought  to  the  very  borders,  and 
I  leave  it  to  another  to  carry  it  over  into  the  land 
of  promise. 

BARBAROUS  COLLEGE  PRACTICES. 

While  this  improvement  of  education  was  going 
on  we  had  to  contend  against  degrading  college 
customs,  some  of  which  had  come  down  from  colo- 
nial times  and  were  copied  from  the  schools  of  Eng- 


36  Twenty   Years  of  Pr meet 071   College. 

land.  There  were  rakes  secretly  issued  by  the 
members  of  one  class  against  the  members  of 
another.  We  had  horn-sprees  and  foolish  bonfires 
kindled  in  the  campus  and  the  embers  often  en- 
dangering the  whole  college  buildings.  Worst  of 
all,  we  had  the  hazing  and  the  smoking  of  students. 
I  resolved  to  put  down  these,  when  I  found  that 
they  had  the  serpent's  power  of  prolonged  life,  and 
that  it  was  difficult  to  kill  them.  I  tried  first  of  all 
to  make  the  classes  condemn  them,  and  often  suc- 
ceeded. But  at  times  we  had  to  exercise  discipline 
on  the  offenders,  who  were  commonly  supported  by 
a  considerable  body  of  students.  I  would  not  be 
giving  a  true  picture  of  the  times  unless  I  mentioned 
one  or  two  cases. 

At  that  time  morning  prayers  were  held  at  seven, 
and  the  students  came  out  rubbing  their  eyes,  with 
their  great-coats  thrown  loosely  over  their  shoulders 
and  buttoning  their  clothes.  One  morning  I  saw  a 
student  with  his  head  all  "  shaven  and  shorn."  I 
called  up  a  tutor  and  asked  him  whether  the  student 
had  had  fever.  "  No,"  said  he  ;  "  did  you  not  hear 
that  he  had  been  hazed  ?  "  I  told  him  that  I  had  not, 
but  added  that  the  whole  college  would  hear  of  it 
before  we  had  done  with  it.  Knowing  that  if  I 
called  the  hazed  student  to  my  house  it  would  only 
be   to    expose  him  to  farther  indignity,  I  asked  a 


Tiventy   Years  of  Princeton  College.         37 

professor  to  give  me  the  use  of  his  study  and 
invited  the  student  to  meet  me  there.  When  I 
asked  how  he  felt  on  being  hazed,  he  replied, 
"  Very  indignant."  I  said  I  was  glad  to  hear  it. 
He  told  me  that  a  company  of  students  disguised 
had  come  into  his  room  late  at  night,  that  they 
gagged  his  mouth  lest  he  should  cry  and  his  ears 
lest  he  should  identify  them  ;  that  they  had  shaved 
his  head,  then  put  him  under  the  pump,  and  left 
him  tied  on  the  campus.  I  asked  if  he  had  any 
friends.  He  answered,  "  Few,  sir  ;  I  am  a  poor 
Irish  boy,  but  one  man  has  helped  me  ;  "  naming 
Chancellor  Green.  "  My  dear  fellow,  you  have  a 
noble  friend."  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  chancellor  and 
ordered  the  student  to  set  off  with  it  next  morning 
before  dawn,  and  tell  what  had  been  done  to  him. 
Next  morning,  a  little  after  eight,  I  saw  the  noble 
form  of  the  chancellor  pass  my  window  and  enter 
my  study.  Hitherto  he  had  been  very  cold  toward 
me — I  believe  he  did  not  see  the  propriety  of  bring- 
ing over  a  Scotchman  to  be  the  head  of  an  American 
college.  He  asked  me  somewhat  sternly,  "  Are 
you  in  earnest?"  I  answered  that  I  was  never 
more  in  earnest  in  my  life.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  I 
have  often  found  when  I  tried  to  uphold  the 
college  in  putting  down  evils  there  was  a  weak 
yielding."      I    told    him    that    he   might    find   that 


38  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

this  was  not  just  my  character.  He  asked  me 
what  I  meant  to  do.  I  answered  that  I  was  a 
stranger,  newly  come  to  this  country,  that  I  had 
asked  for  a  conference  with  him — an  alumnus, 
a  trustee,  and  as  the  head  of  the  law  in  New 
Jersey — to  ask  his  advice.  "  Can  you  not,"  said  he, 
"  summon  the  perpetrators  before  the  faculty  ? 
"  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  but  I  have  little  evidence  to 
proceed  on.  The  student  thinks  he  knows  two  of 
those  who  gagg-ed  him,  but  is  not  sure  ;  and  stu- 
dents capable  of  such  deeds  reckon  it  no  crime  to 
lie  to  the  faculty."  "  What  then  are  we  to  do  ?  "  I 
replied  that  I  wished  him  to  say.  But  he  again 
asked,  "Are  you  in  earnest?"  I  said  "he  might 
try  me."  He  then  proposed  that  we  should  start 
a  criminal  process,  and  said  he  would  engage  the 
attorney-general  as  prosecutor,  and  would  see  that 
the  jury  was  not  packed.  I  said,  "  I  accept  your 
terms,"  and  added,  "  You  may  now  go  home,  Chan- 
cellor, the  case  is  settled."  He  asked,  "  What  do 
you  mean  ? "  looking  at  me  with  amazement.  I 
simply  mentioned  that  I  had  been  dealing  with  stu- 
dents for  sixteen  years,  and  knew  that  the  case  was 
settled.  I  felt  that  the  time  was  come  when  I 
should  be  as  cold  to  him  as  he  had  been  to  me.  I 
thanked  him  for  com  in  or  to  me  when  I  meant  to  qo 
to  him,  and  bade  him    good-morning.      I  asked  a 


Tzventy   Years  of  Princeton   College.         39 

professor  to  send  for  one  of  the  students  supposed 
to  have  been  guilty,  and  to  tell  him  that  the  great 
chancellor  had  been  here,  that  he  was  that  day  to 
engage  the  attorney-general  as  prosecutor,  and 
that  if  the  guilty  parties  did  not  send  me  an  apol- 
ogy in  forty-eight  hours  they  would  all  be  in  prison. 
In  a  few  hours  I  received  a  humble  letter,  signed  by 
about  a  dozen  students,  confessing  that  they  were 
guilty,  expressing  their  sorrow,  and  promising  that 
they  would  never  commit  a  like  offence.  I  sent 
a  message  to  the  professors,  asking  them  to  be  in 
their  place  next  morning  at  prayers,  and  the  stu- 
dents were  prepared  for  something  to  come  when 
they  saw  them  all  assembled.  I  took  out  the  paper 
sent  me,  and  read  it  till  I  came  to  the  signatures, 
when  I  put  it  in  my  pocket,  saying,  "  I  accept  the 
apology  and  the  promise,  and  neither  the  faculty 
nor  any  other  shall  ever  know  the  names.  Let  us 
read  the  passage  on  repentance,  2  Cor.  vii."  I  never 
saw  the  college  more  moved. 

For  some  years  hazing  was  considerably  sub- 
dued. But  it  continued  in  other  colleges  which 
have  not  had  the  courage  to  grapple  with  it,  and 
has  reappeared  in  this  college  once  and  again  and 
has  led  to  some  very  painful  scenes.  It  has  for  the 
present  disappeared,  I  trust  finally. 

As  a   happy   consequence    of  this    act    I  gained 


40  Tiuenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

the  friendship  of  Chancellor  Green,  who  ever  after- 
wards stood  by  me  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  and 
beyond  it,  telling  those  who  opposed  my  measures 
that  in  opposing  me  they  would  have  to  oppose  him. 
His  family  became  deeply  interested  in  the  college, 
and  have  been  our  most  generous  benefactors.  I 
was  gratified  when  his  family  asked  me  to  be  a 
mourner  at  the  funeral  of  that  man,  one  of  the  great- 
est that  Jersey  has  produced.* 

I  may  state  that  this  was  the  first  and  last  case  in 
which  I  resolved  to  carry  discipline  into  a  criminal 
court.  I  thought  it  right  to  let  the  college  know 
that  the  criminal  courts  could  interfere  in  such  a  case. 
But  it  is  better  that  the  faculty  should  exercise  dis- 
cipline in  a  paternal  spirit.  Another  incident  may 
be  given.  A  company  resolved  to  smoke  a  student. 
They  entered  his  room  vigorously  puffing  out  tobacco 
fumes,  hoping  thereby  to  sicken  him.  The  faculty 
sent  them  home  to  their  fathers  and  mothers.  At 
the  close  of  one  of  my  Bible  recitations  about  twenty 
students  remained  behind  and  asked  to  speak  with 
me,  and  they  spoke  feelingly  of  the  pain  which  the 
dismissal  of  their  companions  would  give  to  fathers 

*  Mr.  Courtland  Parker  said  to  me  as  we  rode  in  the  same  carriage  at  his 
funeral,  "  When  the  Chancellor  summed  up  the  evidence  and  addressed  the 
criminal  condemned  to  die,  I  always  felt  that  I  had  a  picture  of  the  day  of 
judgment." 


Tzventy    Years  of  Princeton   College.  41 

and  mothers  and  grandmothers.  I  saw  at  once  that 
I  had  before  me,  not  those  who  had  been  engaged 
in  the  foul  deed,  but  the  best  students  in  the  class, 
who  had  been  elected  as  most  likely  to  have  an  influ- 
ence over  me.  It  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  catch 
them  in  the  trap  which  they  had  laid  for  me.  I  said 
to  them,  "  Do  you  approve  of  the  deed  which  has  been 
done  ?  "  "  No,"  they  answered  heartily.  "  But  how," 
I  asked,  "  do  you  propose  to  stop  such  acts  ?  "  They 
were  staggered.  I  saw  out  of  the  window  two  hun- 
dred students  gathered  like  a  thunder-cloud  on  the 
campus  and  threatening  rebellion.  I  said,  "  Gentle- 
men, go  out  to  these  students  and  ask  them  to  pass  a 
resolution  condemning  the  offensive  practice  ;  "  and  I 
promised  that  if  they  did  so  I  would  ask  the  faculty 
to  rescind  their  sentence.  To  show  that  I  was  not 
afraid,  I  passed  by  the  crowd  on  my  w^ay  home  and 
heard  a  student  denouncing  the  abominable  deed 
that  had  been  committed  by  the  students.  The 
company  was  divided  and  soon  scattered.  They 
had  planned  on  that  afternoon  to  rise  in  a  body  and 
leave  the  chapel.  No  one  rose,  and  the  threatening 
cloud  passed  away. 

When  these  emeutes  took  place  we  were  always 
favored  with  the  visits  of  interviewers  from  the  New 
York  newspapers.  I  remember  that  one  day  when 
I  was  coming^  down  from  New  York,  I  had  a  dozen 


42  Tzuenty   Veal's  of  Princeton  College. 

reporters  on  the  same  train,  all  bent  on  carrying 
back  a  sensational  story  founded  on  some  small  dis- 
turbance which  had  occurred  the  night  before.  At 
one  of  these  times  a  reporter  from  a  reputable  journal 
called  on  me  for  information.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
give  him  this,  but  that  he  must  publish  what  I  said  to 
him,  which  he  agreed  to  do,  and  I  began  :  "  Whereas 
a  certain  newspaper,  "  naming  it,  "  had  been  publish- 
ing vile  stories  against  Princeton  College,  evidently 
written  by  sub-editors  from  a  rival  college,  the  alumni 
and  students  of  Princeton  were  about  to  form  a  com- 
bination in  which  each  member  binds  himself  never 
to  buy  a  copy  of  that  paper."  The  reporter  wrote  a 
while,  and  then  put  his  pen  behind  his  ear  and  said, 
"  President,  this  will  never  do,"  and  promised  to 
speak  to  the  editor  ;  and  in  a  day  or  two  after  the 
editor  wrote  me,  asking  me  to  appoint  a  reporter  from 
among  the  students,  and  we  were  troubled  no  more 
from  that  quarter. 

I  mention  these  things  in  order  to  give  me  an  op- 
portunity of  explaining  that  these  scenes  of  disturb- 
ance, which  were  reported  years  ago  in  so  exagger- 
ated a  form,  almost  always  rose  from  our  putting  down 
debasing  customs.  I  could  not  in  dignity  answer 
the  distorted  reports,  and  many  believed  them.  We 
have  now  happily  put  down  all  these  old  barbarous 
customs,  and  of  late  years  I  have  no  complaint  to 


Twenty   Years  of  P^'inceton  College.         43 

make  of  the  newspaper  press.  It  seems  inclined  to 
speak  good  of  us  rather  than  evil,  and  of  myself,  I 
am  sure  it  praises,  vastly  more  than  they  deserve, 
the  efforts  I  have  made  for  the  advancement  of  the 
college. 

I  do  not  wish  to  fight  old  battles  over  again,  but 
if  I  am  to  give  a  correct  account  of  the  period,  I 
must  mention  the  important  historical  events. 

SECRET  SOCIETIES. 

When  I  became  connected  with  Princeton,  the 
secret  Greek  Letter  Fraternities  had  considerable 
power  in  the  college.  The  trustees  years  before 
had  passed  a  law  requiring  every  entering  student 
to  come  under  a  solemn  obligation  to  have  no  con- 
nection whatever  with  any  secret  society.  I  felt 
from  the  beginning  that  the  college  was  ia  this 
respect  in  a  very  unhappy  position,  the  students  sign- 
ing a  pledge  which  a  number  of  them  knowingly  vio- 
lated. On  inquiry  I  discovered  that  while  some  of  the 
societies  did  mean  to  foster  pleasant  social  feelings 
and  to  create  a  taste  for  oratory,  yet  that  their  influ- 
ence was  upon  the  whole  for  evil.  I  soon  found 
that  the  societies  sought  to  get  the  college  honors 
to  their  members  and  to  support  those  who  were 
under  college  discipline.  I  felt  that  as  the  head  of 
the  college  I  must  put  an  end  to  this  state  of  things. 


44         Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

I  was  powerfully  aided  or  rather  led  in  carrying  this 
out  by  the  late  Dr.  Atwater,  who  had  more  credit 
than  I  in  suppressing  the  secret  societies.  One 
courageous  student  set  himself  vigorously  to  oppose 
the  attempt  to  get  the  college  honors  to  members  of 
the  fraternities.  The  difficulty  was  to  get  evidence. 
But  certain  lodges  got  photographs  taken  of  their 
members.  These  fell  into  our  hands.  The  offenders 
stood  clearly  before  us.  I  summoned  them  before 
the  faculty.  They  did  not  deny  the  charge  and  we 
sent  them  home.  In  a  short  time  each  sent  in  a 
paper  in  which  he  promised  to  give  up  while  in  col- 
leee  all  connection  with  secret  societies.  I  retained 
these  papers  for  a  time  to  secure  that  the  promise 
should  be  kept,  but  I  have  shown  them  to  no  one. 
The  faculty  restored  the  students,  who,  I  believe,  kept 
their  word.  Now  the  great  body  of  the  students 
would  earnestly  oppose  the  reintroduction  of  these 
fraternities  into  our  college.  Most  of  the  professors 
in  the  American  colleges  profess  to  lament  the  exist- 
ence of  such  societies,  but  have  not  the  courage  to 
suppress  them.  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  of  late  some 
eminent  men  belonging  to  other  colleges  have  been 
defending  these  secret  organizations. 

One  of  the  greatest  evils  arising  from  the  Greek 
letter  societies  is  that  they  tended  to  lessen  the  num- 
bers and  usefulness  of  our  two  noble  societies,  the 


Tzuenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.  45 

Whig  and  the  Cliosophic.  These  form  an  essential 
part  of  our  educational  system.  They  have  done  as 
much  good  as  any  other  department  of  our  college 
teaching.  They  have  helped  mightily  to  prepare  our 
young  men  for  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  and  the  senate. 
I  may  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  the  barbarous 
customs  at  entrance  might  be  profitably  abandoned. 
I  farther  think  that  the  societies  should  be  so  opened 
that  from  time  to  time  each  should  have  great  public 
debates  open  to  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen.  Not  till 
then  can  we  have  the  highest  style  of  popular  elo- 
quence. 

GYMNASTICS. 

I  feel  a  great  pride  in  remembering  that  I  intro- 
duced gymnastics  into  the  college.  The  sentence 
of  my  Inaugural  in  which  I  declared  that  there 
should  be  exercises  in  the  colleges  to  strengthen  the 
bodily  frame  called  forth  loud  acclamations.  Since 
that  time  gymnastics  have  had  an  important  place 
under  careful  superintendents  and  our  students  have 
manfully  kept  their  own.  From  the  gymnastic 
exercises  within  our  walls  and  grounds  much  good 
has  arisen  and  no  evil.  The  bodily  frames  of  our 
students  have  been  strengthened,  and  their  health 
sustained  by  the  manly  exercises,  while  habits  of 
mental  agility  and   self-possession    have    been    ac- 


46  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

quired,  of  great  use  in  preparing  young  men  for  the' 
active  duties  of  life. 

But  there  may  be,  there  have  been,  evils  arising 
from  the  abuse  of  competitive  games,  especially  with 
professionals.  The  applause  given  may  create  an 
enthusiasm  which  should  rather  be  directed  to  study. 
Some  may  prefer  the  approving  shout  of  ten  thou- 
sand spectators  on  the  ball  field  to  the  earning  of  a 
class  honor  or  a  university  fellowship.  The  youth 
who  can  skilfully  throw  a  ball  may  be  more  highly 
esteemed  than  one  of  high  scholarship  or  character. 
Your  strutting  college  heroes  may  consist  of  men 
who  have  merely  powerful  arms  and  legs. 

It  is  acknowledged  that  some  of  our  greatest 
gymnasts  have  been  as  scholarly  and  pious  as  any 
members  of  their  class.  There  is  no  necessary  or 
even  usual  connection  between  gymnastic  eminence 
and  immorality.  But  there  may  be  some  half-dozen 
or  ten  in  each  class  of  a  hundred  who  devote  so 
much  time  and  mind  to  the  games  that  they  neglect 
their  studies  and  virtually  lose  their  college  year. 
The  games  may  be  accompanied  with  betting  and 
drinking.  They  may  tend  in  some  cases  to  produce 
the  manners  of  a  bully  or  a  jockey  rather  than  of  a 
scholar  or  a  cultivated  gentleman.  The  talk  of  the 
students  in  the  campus  may  be  more  about  the  nice 
points  of  football,  or  baseball,  than  of  literature  or 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         47 

science.  The  style  of  gaming  may  become  profes- 
sional instead  of  being  promotive  of  health,  and  the 
great  body  of  the  students,  instead  of  joining  in  the 
exercises,  may  stand  by  and  look  idly  on  others 
playing. 

The  question  presses  itself  upon  us.  How  are  we 
to  get  the  acknowledged  good  without  the  accompany- 
ing evils  ?  The  question  is  keenly  discussed  ;  I  hope 
it  will  continue  to  be  discussed  till  it  is  satisfactorily 
settled.  Twice  have  I  made  the  attempt  to  bring 
the  principal  Eastern  colleges  to  an  agreement. 
The  colleges  were  willing  to  unite  except  one  or 
two  who  trade  upon  their  gymnastic  eminence  to 
gain  students.  As  these  stood  out  nothing  could  be 
done.  But  things  have  come  to  a  crisis.  Harvard 
and  Yale  now  profess  to  see  the  evils  that  arise 
from  competitive  games.  Let  the  discussion  con- 
tinue. Let  it  be  publicly  conducted.  Let  it  be  known 
what  position  each  college  takes.  Let  fathers  and 
mothers  say  what  they  wish  for  their  sons.  Let  the 
public  press  speak  boldly.  The  issue  within  the  next 
year  or  two  will  be  that  we  shall  have  the  good  without 
the  evil.  Meanwhile  let  Princeton  proclaim  that 
her  reputation  does  not  depend  on  her  skill  in 
throwing  or  kicking  a  ball  but  on  the  scholarship  and 
the  virtue  of  her  sons. 


48  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

THE  MORALITY  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 

If  any  one  tells  me  that  in  a  college  with  hun- 
dreds of  students  there  is  no  vice  he  is  either  de- 
ceived himself  or  is  endeavoring  to  deceive  others. 
We  acknowledge  that  there  are  evils  in  our  college, 
but  we  do  all  we  can  to  repress  them.  Of  late  years 
there  has  been  very  little  vicious  conduct  in  Prince- 
ton College.  What  exists  is  obliged  to  hide  itself. 
The  great  body  of  the  students  discountenance  it, 
and  do  not,  as  they  were  often  tempted  to  do  in  for- 
mer years,  defend  those  who  may  be  under  disci- 
pline. 

I  hold  that  in  every  college  the  Faculty  should 
look  after,  not  only  the  intellectual  improvement, 
but  the  morals  of  those  committed  to  their  care  by 
parents  and  guardians.  I  am  afraid  that  both  in 
Europe  and  America  all  idea  of  looking  after  the 
character  of  students  has  been  given  up  by  many  of 
our  younger  professors.  Their  feeling  is,  "  I  am 
bound  to  give  instruction  in  my  department  and  to 
advance  the  study  in  all  quarters  ;  but  as  to  looking 
after  the  private  character  of  any  student,  I  do 
not  recognize  it  to  be  part  of  my  duty  and  I  shrink 
from  it,  I  decline  to  undertake  it."  I  have  been  very 
careful  not  to  let  this  spirit  get  abroad  among  our 
young  instructors.     Our  law  enjoins  that  every  pro- 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         49 

fessor  is  bound  in  duty  to  watch  over  the  welfare  of 
the  students,  many  of  whom  are  far  from  home.  We 
have  a  tutor  or  officer  in  every  college  building  whose 
office  it  is  to  see  that  those  living  there  conduct 
themselves  properly. 

We  have  abandoned  °the  spy  system,  and  our 
officers  do  not  peep  in  at  windows  or  through  key- 
holes— a  practice  at  which  the  student  would  gen- 
erally contrive  to  outwit  his  guardian.  With  us 
everything  is  open  and  above  board.  We  proceed  on 
the  principle  that  the  college  stands  loco  parentis. 
The  youth  is  treated  as  he  would  be  by  a  parent. 
We  listen  patiently  to  every  one  against  whom  a 
suspicion  is  entertained  or  a  charge  brought.  We 
dismiss  no  one  without  evidence,  and  there  is  rarely 
if  ever  a  case  in  which  the  culprit  does  not  confess 
his  guilt.  Our  penalties  consist  in  sending  home  the 
youth  for  a  shorter  or  longer  time  to  his  parents,  that 
they  may  deal  with  him. 

For  sixteen  years  I  had  the  somewhat  invid- 
ious task  of  looking  after  the  morals  and  disci- 
pline of  the  college.  Since  that  time  this  important 
work  has  been  committed  to  Dean  Murray,  who  has 
shown  more  patience  than  I  did  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties.  Parents  may  be  satisfied  when  they  know 
that  he  is  looking  after  the  best  welfare  of  their  sons. 

I  could  weep  this  day,  did  I  not  restrain  myself, 


5o  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

over  some  who  have  fallen  when  with  us.  But  I  am 
able  to  say  that  when  parents  join  with  us  in  the  exer- 
cise of  discipline,  it  commonly  succeeds  in  accomplish- 
ing its  end,  the  reformation  of  the  offender.  We  have 
the  privilege  and  the  advantage  of  a  great  many  of 
the  youths  sent  us  having  been  well  trained  at  home. 
I  am  able  to  testify  that  God  has  been  faithful  to  his 
promise,  "Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go, 
and  in  his  old  age  he  will  not  depart  therefrom." 

There  is  a  much  more  pleasant  relationship 
between  the  professors  and  the  students  of  late 
years.  It  is  a  much  easier  thing  now  to  govern  the 
college.  This  is  especially  so  since  a  provision  has 
been  made  for  a  conference  between  the  Faculty  and 
an  elected  committee  of  the  students  as  to  judicial 
cases.  I  doubt  much  whether  such  a  measure  could 
have  been  made  to  work  beneficially  in  some  earlier 
years,  as  the  students  might  have  chosen  repre- 
sentatives to  fight  with  the  Faculty.  This  confer- 
ence, long  contemplated  by  me,  has  been  carried 
into  effect  by  Dean  Murray  with  the  happiest  re- 
sults. 

I  believe  the  moral  tone  of  the  college  is  upon  the 
whole  sound  at  this  present  moment.  Lately  the 
students,  with  my  consent  and  approval,  held  a  mass- 
meeting  and  denounced  the  base  men  who  send 
them  obscene  publications  by  mail.     At  the  same 


Twenty  Years  of  P^Hnceton   College.         5 1 

meeting  they  voted  unanimously  for  No  License  in 
this  town,  and  helped  greatly  in  carrying  this  measure 
in  the  burgh.  I  cannot  tell  how  happy  I  am  to 
think  that  when  I  give  up  my  office  in  the  college, 
there  is  not  a  place  for  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors 
in  all  Princeton. 

RELIGION  IN  THE  COLLEGE. 

From  the  beginning  Princeton  has  been  a  relig- 
ious college  professedly  and  really.  It  has  given 
instruction  weekly  on  the  Bible,  and  required  attend- 
ance at  prayers  daily  and  on  public  worship  on  the 
Sabbath.  The  prayers  in  the  chapel  are  conducted  by 
the  President  and  professors  in  their  turn,  and  the 
preaching  by  those  of  us  who  are  ministers,  and 
very  frequently  now  by  eminent  divines  who  are 
invited  to  visit  us.  Dean  Murray  conducts  public  wor- 
ship with  great  acceptance  once  a  fortnight.  Our 
Sabbath  services  of  late  years  are  not  found  to  be 
tedious  by  the  students.  Every  Sabbath  afternoon 
at  five  there  is  a  meetino-  of  the  whole  college  for 
prayer,  and  a  ten-minutes  address  which  is  com- 
monly interesting  as  well  as  useful. 

There  is  much  talk  in  certain  quarters  of  the 
importance  of  giving  instruction  in  the  English 
Bible  in  colleges.  Let  me  tell  those  who  are  recom- 
mending this  to  us,  that  this  has  always  been  done 


52  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

in  Princeton.  We  are  not  ashamed,  neither  profes- 
sors nor  students,  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  entering  upon  my  work  here  I  found  some  dif- 
ficulty in  inducing  those  who  had  previously  con- 
ducted religious  instruction  to  continue  to  do  so,  so 
I  undertook  the  whole  work  myself.  For  eight 
years  I  gave  Bible  instruction  weekly  to  every  stu- 
dent. My  course  lasted  four  years,  and  in  these  I 
carried  the  students  in  a  general  way  through  the 
Bible. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  acted  wisely  in  undertaking 
all  this  work.  At  the  end  of  the  eight  years  I 
divided  the  work  among  several  others,  reserv- 
ing always  to  myself  an  important  part,  the  Penta- 
teuch and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  on  which  the 
seniors  were  required  to  recite.  Latterly  I  have 
given  up  the  whole  Bible  instruction  to  seven  or 
eight  others.  Dean  Murray  gives  instruction  to  the 
seniors  in  the  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  gospels  and 
the  epistles.  Professor  Ormond  goes  through  the 
book  of  Acts  with  the  juniors.  Professor  Orris  takes 
up  St.  John's  Gospel  in  Greek  with  the  Academic 
sophomores  and  Professor  Winans  takes  up  St. 
Luke's  gospel.  The  Academic  freshmen  are  taken 
over  a  general  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  poetical  books  of  Scripture  and  the  par- 
ables of  our  Lord  by  Professors  Hunt,  West,  and 


Tiuenty   Years  of  Prmceton  College.         53 

Tutor  Roddy.  Professor  Macloskie  gives  two 
courses  to  the  sophomores  and  freshmen  in  the 
School  of  Science — one  on  lessons  from  the  Old 
Testament,  the  other  on  the  Life  of  Christ.  Profes- 
sor Winans  has  an  optional  class  once  a  week,  in 
the  evening,  in  which  he  gives  special  instruction  in 
the  Greek  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  majority  of  the  students  have  always  been 
professors  of  religion.  One  year  there  were  two- 
thirds,  and  this  year  there  are  three- fifths.  I  am  able 
to  testify  that  these  students  as  a  whole,  and  with 
some  human  infirmities,  live  consistently  with  the 
profession  which  they  make.  At  this  present  time 
we  have  2)^S  names  on  the  roll  of  the  Philadelphia 
Society,  which  is  the  special  religious  association  of 
the  college,  and  which  has  been  the  centre  of  the 
spiritual  life  among  us  for  many  years. 

We  have  had  our  times  of  gracious  revival.  I 
remember  one  year  which  began  with  a  season  of 
great  religious  apathy.  The  number  attending  our 
prayer-meetings  was  very  small — perhaps  twenty  or 
thirty.  But  we  had  a  few  devoted  men,  some  of 
whom  had  come  from  another  college,  who  prayed 
as  earnestly  as  ever  men  prayed,  saying  to  God  that 
"  we  will  not  let  thee  go  except  thou  bless  us."  One 
night  there  was  heard  in  our  campus  the  noise  of  a 
company,  who  had  been  drinking.     We  summoned 


54  Twc7ity   Years  of  Prhuefo7i   College. 

before  the  faculty  a  number  of  students,  whose  names 
had  been  called  as  they  were  returning  to  their 
rooms.  We  had  difficulty  in  making  them  confess. 
After  dealing  for  more  than  an  hour  with  one  young 
man — now  a  lawyer  in  high  standing — in  which  he 
continued  parrying  me  off,  he  burst  out :  '•  President, 
I  can  stand  this  no  longer.  I  was  drinking,  and  I 
fear  I  am  getting  fond  of  drink."  We  sent  the  band 
home  for  a  time.  They  returned  deploring  their 
conduct.  Our  act  of  discipline  was  blessed  by  God. 
The  college  was  moved,  many  betook  themselves  to 
prayer.  Prayer  meetings  were  numerous  and  ear- 
nest. Dozens  were  converted  and  have  ever  since 
continued  steadfast  in  the  faith. 

In  1S76,  we  had  a  deep  religious  revival.  Meet- 
ings for  conference  and  prayers  were  held  by  the  stu- 
dents every  day  and  every  night.  Every  student, 
indeed  every  member  of  the  college,  felt  awed  and 
subdued.  It  was  estimated  that  upwards  of  one  hun- 
dred were  converted,  I  know  that  the  great  body 
of  them,  if  not  all,  have  continued  faithful,  are  lead- 
ing consistent  lives,  and  doing  good  over  wide 
regions  in  this  land  and  in  others.  On  one  occa- 
sion some  strange  fire  mingled  at  times  wtih  the  fire 
from  off  the  altar  of  God'.  There  was  a  jealousy 
of  the  faculty  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  the  students. 
Some  of  the  strangers  who  came  here  to  address 


Tzventy   Years  of  Princeton  College.         55 

them  kept  studiously  away  from  the  President  and 
professors,  lest  it  should  be  thought  that  the  work 
was  a  scheme  of  the  college  authorities.  But  the  few 
evils  that  appeared  were  overwhelmed  and  lost  sight 
of  in  the  midst  of  the  good  that  was  done.  When 
the  excitement  was  somewhat  dying  down,  the 
students  felt  the  need  of  the  wise  counsel  of  their 
college  instructors,  and  came  to  put  confidence 
in  them. 

In  later  years  the  religious  interest  has  not  so 
often  taken  the  form  of  what  is  called  a  revival.  But 
all  along  we  have  had,  every  year  or  two,  seasons  of 
deep  religious  earnestness,  as  in  1870,  in  1872,  in 
1874,  in  1882,  in  1886.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year 
we  had  such  a  time  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of 
Professor  Drummond  and  two  professors  from  the 
University  of  Edinburgh.  At  these  times  the  meet- 
ings for  prayers  were  frequent  and  well  attended,  and 
there  were  short  meetings  for  worship  conducted  by 
students  in  the  college  entries  about  nine  at  night, 
to  which  all  students  in  the  entry  were  invited.  On 
these  occasions  pains  were  taken  to  secure  that 
every  student,  especially  those  who  had  made  no 
profession  of  religion,  were  spoken  to  about  the 
state  of  their  soul.  It  may  be  said  truly  that  no  stu- 
dent has  left  our  college  without  the  wa)'  of  salvation 
having  been  made  known  from   the  pulpit  on  the 


56  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

Sabbath,  by  the  weekly  Bible  instruction  of  profes- ' 
sors,  and  by  the  repeated  personal  appeals  of  his 
pious  fellow  students. 

In  1877  a  convention  was  held  in  Louisville  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  societies  for  Christian 
work  in  every  college.  One  of  our  professors,  Dr. 
Libbey,  was  induced  to  become  a  leader  in  this 
movement.  He  and  Mr.  Wishard,  a  student  of  ours, 
engaged  as  secretary,  visited  a  great  many  of  the 
colleges  of  the  country  and  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing Christian  associations  in  them.  These  ever 
since  have  been  the  centres  of  religious  life,  and  have 
great  influence  in  promoting  religion  in  the  colleges. 
By  means  of  them  the  colleges  can  combine  to 
further  any  good  cause.  They  are  in  friendly  relation- 
ship with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of 
America. 

In  1886  two  of  our  students,  Mr.  Wilder  and  Mr. 
Forman,  sons  of  missionaries,  being  stimulated  by 
residing  in  the  summer  in  Northfield  under  Mr. 
Moody,  resolved  to  visit  the  colleges  in  New 
England,  Canada  and  the  Middle  States  in  order  to 
engage  students,  young  men  and  women,  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  work  of  the  Lord  as  missionaries 
in  the  foreign  field.  They  succeeded  in  getting  no 
fewer  than  twenty-five  hundred  to  profess  their 
readiness  to  go  where  Christ  might  require.     This 


Twenty   Years  of  Prmceton   College.         57 

is,  I  believe,  a  genuine  work.  At  this  present  time 
there  is  a  very  deep  interest,  greater  than  has  ever 
been  before,  in  foreign  missions  among  the  students 
of  the  college  and  seminary.  A  meeting  for  prayer 
is  held  after  the  morning  service  in  the  chapel, 
attended  by  about  thirty  persons,  all  purposing  to  go 
abroad  as  missionaries.  A  year  ago  the  college  stu- 
dents raised  the  funds  to  pay  a  missionary,  and  Mr. 
Forman  has  been  sent  out  as  Princeton  Colleo^e  mis- 
sionary  to  India. 

Princeton  College,  during  my  presidency,  has 
sent  out  at  least  three  hundred  men  as  ministers  or 
preparing  for  the  ministry.  I  know  of  at  least 
twenty-five  missionaries  sent  out  during  the  same 
period  to  the  foreign  field. 

Thank  God  we  have  had  scarcely  any  avowed 
infidelity  among  us.  Not  above  half  a  dozen  out  of 
our  two  thousand  and  more  students  have  left  us  de- 
claring that  they  had  no  religious  belief.  Several  of 
this  small  number  have  since  become  decided  Chris- 
tians. The  truth  which  had  been  addressed  to  them 
here  stuck  as  a  barbed  arrow  in  their  hearts  till  God 
gave  them  relief  One  young  man  while  here  had 
set  himself  against  all  religion.  Three  years  after 
graduation  he  was  elected  to  deliver  the  master's 
oration,  and  he  came  back  among  us  to  give  a  no- 
ble defence  of  the  truth.     On  another  occasion,  I 


58  Twenty   Years  of  Prince lo7i   College. 

sent  for  a  young  man  who  had  just  graduated,  of 
whom  I  feared  that  he  had  no  rehgious  faith.  After 
talking  with  him  seriously,  I  asked  if  he  would  allow 
me  to  pray  with  him.  He  declined,  saying  that  he 
did  not  believe  in  a  God  to  whom  to  pray.  So  we 
parted.  I  had  hope  of  him,  knowing  that  he  had  a 
pious  mother.  I  gave  him  a  letter  which  helped  him 
to  get  a  government  position  in  Washington.  Some 
years  after,  I  had  occasion  to  deliver  some  lectures 
in  Cincinnati,  and  was  living  in  a  hotel  there.  A 
stranger,  who  turned  out  to  have  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton before  my  day,  came  up  to  me  and  asked,  "  How 
is  it  that  you  make  infidels  in  Princeton  ?  "  I 
answered  that  this  was  not  just  our  vocation.  He 
then  began  to  tell  me  of  a  young  man  who  lived  in 
the  same  boardincr-house  with  him  in  Washino-ton 
who  had  been  an  open-mouthed  infidel,  perpetually 
quoting  Huxley  and  Spencer,  and  avowing  himself 
an  agnostic.  I  guessed  who  the  young  man  was  at 
once.  After  keeping  me  in  a  state  of  anxiety  for  a 
time,  he  said  that  he  might  be  able  to  report  some- 
thing that  would  gratify  me,  and  he  told  me  that 
this  young  man  had  gone  to  his  mother  to  con- 
vert her;  "but,"  he  added,  "she  floored  him,"  and 
now  he  is  a  member  of  a  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  is  delivering  addresses  on  religion. 
Not  long  after,   this   youth  called  on   me  with  his 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         Sq 

newly-married  wife.  On  the  same  chair  on  which 
he  was  seated  when  he  decHned  to  pray  with  me, 
he  now  asked  me  to  pray  with  him.  He  is  now 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  when  I  saw  him  last 
he  was  purposing-  to  become  a  missionary.  I  pray 
that  there  may  be  a  like  issue  in  the  case  of  the 
few  who  are  still  wandering. 

Happily  I  have  never  had  any  difficulty  in  dealing 
with  students  on  the  religious  question,  I  have  had 
under  me  Catholics. as  well  as  Protestants  of  all  de- 
nominations, Jews  and  heathens.  I  have  religiously 
guarded  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience.  I  have 
never  insisted  on  any  one  attending  a  religious  ser- 
vice to  which  he  conscientiously  objected.  With 
scarcely  an  exception,  the  students  have  attended  our 
daily  morning  prayers  in  the  chapel,  and  also  our 
weekly  religious  instruction.  We  allow  them  to  go 
to  their  own  place  of  worship  on  the  Sabbath.  The 
Episcopalians  have  a  St.  Paul's  Society,  which  we 
encourage.  It  is. an  interesting  fact  that  during  all 
my  presidency  no  one  has  left  the  Presbyterian 
Church  while  in  college  to  join  any  other  communion. 

In  the  instruction  we  give  by  lectures  and  recita- 
tions, we  do  not  subject  religion  to  science.  But 
we  are  equally  careful  not  to  subject  science  to  reli- 
gion. We  give  to  each  its  own  independent  place, 
supported  by  its  own  evidence.    We  give  to  science 


6o  Tweiity   Years  of  Prmceton  College. 

the  things  that  belong  to  science,  and  to  God  the 
things  that  are  God's.  When  a  scientific  theory  is 
brought  before  us,  our  first  inquiry  is  not  whether  it 
is  consistent  with  rehgion,  but  whether  it  is  true. 
If  it  is  found  to  be  true,  on  the  principle  of  the 
induction  of  Bacon,  it  will  be  found  that  it  is  con- 
sistent with  religion,  on  the  principle  of  the  unity  of 
truth.  We  do  not  reject  a  scientific  truth  because  at 
first  sight  it  seems  opposed  to  revelation.  We  have 
seen  that  geology,  which  an  age  ago  seemed  to  be 
contrary  to  Scripture,  has  furnished  many  new  illus- 
trations of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God,  and 
that  the  ages  of  geology  have  a  wonderful  general 
correspondence  with  the  six  days  of  the  opening  of 
Genesis.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  late  Dr. 
Stephen  Alexander  defended  Kant  and  Laplace's 
theory  of  the  formation  of  the  earth  (substantially 
true,  though  it  is  now  shown  that  it  has  overlooked 
some  agencies  at  work),  which  was  supposed  to  be 
inconsistent  with  reli8:ion.  I  have  been  defendinsf 
Evolution,  but  in  doing  so,  have  given  the  proper 
account  of  it  as  the  method  of  God's  procedure,  and 
find  that  when  so  understood  it  is  in  no  way  incon- 
sistent with  Scripture.  I  have  been  thanked  by 
pupils  who  see  Evolution  everywhere  in  nature  be- 
cause I  have  so  explained  it  that  they  can  believe 
both  in   it  and  in  Scripture.      I  believe  that  whatever 


Tzventy   Years  of  Princeton  College.         6i 

supposed  discrepancies  may  come  up  for  a  time  be- 
tween science  and  revealed  truth  will  soon  disap- 
pear, that  each  will  confirm  the  other,  and  both  tend 
to  promote  the  glory  of  God. 

CLOSE. 

During  all  this  time  a  careful  Providence  has 
been  watching  over  us.  We  have  had  no  fire  or 
flood  to  devastate  us.  The  health  of  our  students 
has  been  remarkably  good.  There  have  scarcely 
been  any  deaths  within  our  walls.  In  making  this 
statement  I  have  to  mention  one  sad  exception.  If 
I  did  not  restrain  myself  I  would  weep  as  I  think  of 
it.  In  1880,  seven  or  eight  young  men  were  taken 
away  by  malignant  fever.  I  do  not  feel  as  if  I  were 
specially  to  blame,  as  the  sanitary  arrangements 
were  not  committed  to  me  ;  but  we  college  authori- 
ties were  so  far  to  blame,  and  I  am  afraid  that  we 
have  scarcely  made  •  atonement  by  immediately 
after,  at  a  large  expense,  making  the  sanitary  con- 
dition of  the  college  thoroughly  satisfactory.  For 
hours  day  and  night  was  I  employed  in  visiting  the 
dying,  and  comforting  their  parents.  The  thought 
of  these  weeks  is  the  most  painful  rem.embrance  of 
my  Princeton  life. 

I  am  led,  this  day,  to  look  back  on  my  past  life 
in  Princeton.     I  believe  I  can  say  truly  that  I  have 


62  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College. 

coveted  no  man's  silver  or  gold.  The  little  I  have 
laid  up  for  old  age  I  owe  to  a  revered  father  who 
cultivated  the  land  in  Scotland,  and  to  a  beloved 
son,  whose  remains  I  have  laid  in  your  graveyard, 
expecting  at  no  distant  day  to  have  my  own  laid 
beside  them.  I  owe  no  man  anything,  but  love  to 
all  men,  gratitude  for  the  favors  bestowed  on  me — 
far  greater  than  any  I  have  bestowed  on  others.  I 
trust  I  have  lived  for  a  higher  end  than  riches,  or 
power,  or  fame.  For  sixteen  years  I  was  a  labori- 
ous minister  of  the  Gospel,  having  in  one  of  the 
churches  I  served  upwards  of  1,400  communicants. 
For  the  last  thirty-five  years  I  have  been  instruct- 
ing young  men,  and  in  Princeton  have  commonly 
had  each  year  200  young  men  studying  philosophy 
under  me.  For  all  this  I  have  to  give  account  to 
God. 

I  trust  I  have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  injunc- 
tion to  be  "given  to  hospitality."  My  income,  hap- 
pily we  may  suppose,  did  not  admit  of  my  giving 
extravagant  entertainments  ;  but  when  college  duties 
did  not  prevent,  I  often  asked  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  students — quite  as  frequently  the  poor 
as  the  rich — to  come  to  my  house,  and  in  this  way  I 
became  acquainted  with  the  families  of  many  of  the 
young  men.  From  time  to  time  I  had  class  recep- 
tions, in  which  the  students  were  brought  into  closer 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College.         63 

relationship  with  one  another,  with  my  family,  and 
the  people  of  the  town.  By  these  means  I  have 
sought  in  a  small  way  to  make  college  life  less 
monastic  and  exclusive,  and  to  cherish  pleasant 
social  feelings.  In  this  respect,  and  in  every 
respect,  I  have  been  aided  by  Mrs.  McCosh,  pro- 
vided to  be  my  comfort,  and  who  is  appreciated  by 
the  students  as  being  their  friend  in  health  and  in 
sickness. 

It  would  be  altogether  a  mistake  for  any  one  to 
suppose  that  the  life  of  a  college  president  is  a  dull 
or  monotonous  one.  If  he  has  any  life  in  himself, 
he  will  be  interested  in  the  whole  life  of  the  college 
— and  no  institution  has  more  life  than  a  college. 
The  students  feel  this  in  the  recitation  rooms,  in 
their  own  rooms,  on  the  campus,  and  at  their  games  ; 
and  why  should  not  the  president's  heart  beat  re- 
sponsive to  theirs  ?  There  is  something  happening 
every  day,  almost  every  hour  of  the  day,  to  call  forth 
feeling  ;  sometimes,  I  admit,  of  disappointment  or  sor- 
row, more  frequently  of  hope  and  joy,  as  notice  is 
brought  of  the  success  of  this  or  of  that  young  man. 
There  is  the  father  and  mother  presenting  their  boy, 
their  hearts  trembling  with  anxiety,  while  the  youth 
is  wondering  at  what  is  to  happen.  I  have  been 
liable  every  hour  to  have  calls  made  upon  me.  It 
is  a  mother  asking  how  her  son  is  doing,  and  is  so 


64  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College. 

pleased  when  I  can  report  favorably.     It  is  a  stu- 
dent waitino-  on  me  to  consult  about  his  studies  or 

o 

his  financial  difficulties,  to  ask  me  to  help  him  to 
get  a  certain  position,  or  to  tell  me  of  the  death  of  a 
father  or  sister,  I  was  never  disturbed  by  such 
calls.  I  often  gathered  a  considerable  amount  of 
knowledge  from  them.  The  callers  never  stayed 
too  long  or  annoyed  me  by  improper  requests.  I 
have  found  when  I  was  followirig  some  deep  phil- 
osophic theme,  and  had  run  aground,  that  I  was 
relieved  by  a  student  coming  in  to  divert  my 
thoughts,  and  I  returned  to  my  studies  to  find  the 
difficulties  gone.  I  have  rejoiced  when  I  found  any 
young  man  advancing  in  his  studies,  particularly 
when  he  was  eagerly  pursuing  some  high  branch. 
I  confess  that  I  scarcely  know  what  to  do  with 
myself  after  I  am  separated  from  these  interesting 
associations  and  employments  on  which  so  much  of 
my  happiness  has  depended  these  many  years. 

For  the  last  thirty-five  years  my  intercourse  has 
been  chiefly  with  young  men.  My  heart  has  been 
in  my  work,  and  I  have  delighted  to  lecture  to 
them,  to  listen  to  the  questions  they  put  to  me 
when  they  were  perplexed  about  some  of  the 
deeper  problems  of  philosophy  or  religion.  Two 
circumstances  so  far  help  to  reconcile  me  to  the 
position  I  have  now  to  take. 


Twenty   Years  of  Princeton   College.         65 

The  first,  that  I  am  to  be  succeeded  by  one  in 
whom  I  have  thorough  confidence  that  he  will  carry- 
on  the  work  which  has  been  begun  ;  no,  but  that  he 
will  carry  on  a  work  of  his  own.  Possessed  of  the 
highest  intellectual  powers,  he  will  devote  them  all  to 
the  good  of  this  college.  With  unrivalled  dialectic 
skill  he  will  ever  be  ready  to  defend  the  truth.  I 
am  not  sure  that  we  have  in  this  country  at  this 
moment  a  more  powerful  defender  of  the  faith. 
Carrying  at  his  side  a  sharp  two-edged  sword,  he 
uses  it  only  against  error.  I  can  leave  with  confi- 
dence these  young  men  to  his  care,  believing  that 
he  will  watch  carefully  over  their  training  in  knowl- 
edge, in  morals,  and  in  religion.  I  am  particularly 
happy  when  I  think  that  philosophy,  and  this  of  a 
high  order,  and  favoring  religion,  is  safe  in  his 
hands,  and  will  be  handed  down  by  him  to  the  gen- 
eration following.  I  feel  that  I  will  have  to  say, 
"  What  have  I  done  in  comparison  of  you  ?  Is  not 
the  gleaning  of  the  grapes  of  Ephraim  better  than 
the  vintage  of  Abiezer  ?  " 

Secondly,  I  am  pleased  to  find  that  I  have  still 
some  place  in  this  college.  I  should  like  to  bring 
forth  some  "  fruit  in  old  age."  My  life  has  had  two 
sides  ;  one  employed  in  thinking,  and  the  other  in 
action  ;  and  I  have  not  found  the  two  inconsistent. 
I  am  sure  that  the  metaphysics  I  have  taught  have 
5 


66  Twenty   Years  of  Princeto7i  College. 

been  all  the  wiser,  because  I  have  become  ac- 
quainted with  men  and  manners.  I  have  been 
identified  with  important  public  events  in  Scotland, 
in  Ireland,  and  now  in  the  higher  education  in 
America,  and  I  should  like  to  leave  some  record 
behind  of  what  I  have  done  and  seen,  especially  in 
helping  to  form  in  the  district  in  which  I  lived  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland.  But  if  I  am  spared  to  do 
any  important  work,  it  must  be  in  a  different  field. 

I  cherish  the  belief  that  God  has  given  me  some 
things  farther  to  say  on  the  subject  of  philosophy, 
fitted  to  form  a  basis  to  truth  in  this  age  of  unsettled 
opinion  among  so  many  young  men.  I  have  had 
the  unspeakable  privilege  and  pleasure  of  expound- 
ing philosophy  to  between  two  and  three  thousand 
young  men  in  Princeton.  The  lectures  I  delivered 
here  being  published,  have  got  an  entrance  into 
India,  Japan,  and  Ceylon.  I  mean  to  follow  this 
leading  of  Providence.  Next  winter  I  intend  to  give 
here  a  course  of  very  carefully  prepared  lectures  on 
First  or  Fundamental  Principles,  and  immediately 
after  to  publish  them  to  the  world,  to  travel  as 
widely  as  God  may  open  ways  for  them.  These 
will  contain  in  epitome  the  results  of  my  thoughts 
for  the  last  half  century.  It  is  thus  I  mean  to 
employ  my  remaining  life,  be  it  longer  or  be  it 
shorter. 


Twenty   Years  of  Prmceton  College.         67 

It  is  not  without  feeling  that  I  take  the  step 
which  I  now  take.  It  recalls  that  other  eventful  step 
in  my  life,  when  I  gave  up  my  living,  one  of  the 
most  enviable  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  when  the 
liberties  of  Christ's  people  were  interfered  with.  I 
am  sorry  to  be  separated  from  the  employments  in 
which  I  have  had  such  enjoyment.  I  regret  that  I 
no  longer  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  all  the  stu- 
dents of  this  college.  I  may  feel  a  momentary  pang 
in  leaving  the  fine  mansion,  which  a  friend  gave  to 
the  college  and  to  me — it  is  as  when  Adam  was  driven 
out  of  Eden.  I  am  reminded  keenly  that  my  days 
of  active  work  are  over. 

But  I  take  the  step  firmly  and  decidedly.  The 
shadow^s  are  lengthening,  the  day  is  declining.  My 
age,  seven  years  above  the  three  score  and  ten,  com- 
pels it.  Providence  points  to  it,  conscience  enjoins 
it,  the  good  of  the  college  demands  it.  I  take  the 
step  as  one  of  duty.     I  feel  relieved  as  I  take  it. 

I  ask  forgiveness  of  God  and  man  for  any  offence 
I  have  given  in  my  haste.  I  leave  with  no  unkind 
feeling  toward  any.  I  should  be  sorry  if  any  one 
entertained  a  malignant  feeling  toward  me.  It  has 
been  a  high  honor  and  an  unspeakable  privilege, 
that  I  have  been  at  the  head  of  this  noble  institu- 
tion for  such  a  length  of  time,  and  that  so  many 
spheres  of  usefulness  have  been  thrown  open  to  me. 


68  Twenty   Years  of  Princeton  College, 

I  leave  the  college,  thanks  be  to  God  and  man,  in 
a  healthy  state,  intellectually,  morally,  and  relig- 
iously. I  leave  it  with  the  prayer,  that  the  bless- 
ing of  Heaven  and  the  good  will  of  men  may  rest 
upon  it,  and  with  the  prospect  of  its  having  greater 
usefulness  in  the  future  than  even  that  which  it  has 
had  in  the  past. 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  SCIENCE, 


AN  OUTLINE  STUDY  OF  MAN;  or,  the  Body  and  Mind  in  One 
System.  With  illustrative  diagrams.  PiCvised  edition.  By 
MARK  HOPKir^S,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President  of  Williams 
College.    12mo,  S1.75. 

This  is  a  model  of  the  developing  method  as  applied  to  intellectual 
science.  The  work  is  on  an  entirely  new  plan.  It  presents  man  in 
his  unity,  and  his  several  faculties  and  their  relations  are  so  presented 
to  the  eye  in  illustrative  (liacrrams  as  lo  be  readily  apprehended. 
The  work  has  come  into  very  general  use  in  this  country  as  a  man- 
ual for  instruction,  and  the  demand  for  it  is  increasing  every  year. 

GENERAL  S.  C.  ARMSTRONG,  Principal  Of  nampton  Institute.— •'lam 
glad  of  tlie  opportunity  to  express  my  higli  appreciation  of  Dr.  Hopkins'  Outline 
Stuay  of  McM.  It  lias  done  more  for  me  personally  tliaa  any  bool:  besides  tbe 
Bible.  More  tlian  any  other  It  teaches  the  greatest  of  lessons,  7c?w?o  thyself.  For 
over  ten  years,  I  have  made  it  a  text  boot  In  tlie  Senior  Class  of  this  school.  It 
Is,  I  think,  the  greatest  and  most  useful  of  the  books  of  the  greatest  of  our  Am- 
erican educators,  Ecv.  Dr.  Hopkins,  and  is  destined  to  do  a  great  work  in  forming 
not  only  the  Ideas  but  the  character  of  youth  in  America  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
world." 

PROF.  ADOISON  BALLARD,  of  Lafayette  College.— "I  have  for  years  used 
Dr.  Hopkins'  Outline  Study  of  Man,  in  connection  vvith  his  Laic  of  Love,  as  a  text 
book  for  oar  Senior  Classes.  I  have  done  this  vrith  unfailing  success  and  w!tU 
Increasing  satisfaction.  It  la  of  incalculable  advantage  to  the  student  to  come 
under  the  Influence,  through  his  books,  of  this  great  master  of  t'cought  and  of  style. 
I  cannot  speak  of  Outline  Study  In  terms  of  too  hearty  commendation.'' 

THE  LAW  OF  LOVE,  AND  LOVE  AS  A  LAW;  f^  Christian 
Ethics.  By  Mark  HOPKirJS,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President 
of  Williams  College.    12mo,  $1.75. 

This  work  is  designed  to  follow  the  author's  Outline  Study  of  Man. 
As  its  title  indicates  it  is  entirely  an  expi'sition  of  the  cpxdinal  precept 
of  Christian  philosophy  in  harmony  with  nature  and  on  the  basis  of 
reason.  Lflie  the  treatl:3  ou  mental  philosophy  it  is  adapted  with 
unusual  sk.Il  to  educai'.iual  uses. 

It  appeiirs  in  a  new  edition,  which  has  been  in  pari  re-v.ritten  in 
order  to  bring  it  into  closer  relation  to  his  Outline  Study  of  Man,  of 
which  work  it  is  really  a  continuation.  More  prominence  has  been 
given  to  the  idea  of  Rights,  but  the  fimdamental  doctrines  of  the 
treatise  have  not  been  changed. 


PSYC 


E-EVES- 


STANDARD    TEXT  BOOKS. 


FINAL  CAUSES.  By  PAUL  JANET,  Member  of  the  French 
Academy.  With  a  Preface  by  Robert  Flint,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
From  second  French  edition.    8vo,  82.50. 

PROF.  FRANCIS  L.  PATTON,  of  PrUiceton  Theolooical  Seminary.— "I  re- 
gard  Janet's  '  Final  Causes '  as  Incomparably  tbo  best  thing  in  literature  on  the 
Bubject  of  which  i:  treats,  and  that  It  ought  to  be  In  the  hands  of  every  man  who 
has  any  Interest  In  the  present  phases  of  the  thoistio  problem.  I  have  recom- 
mended it  to  my  classes  in  the  seminary,  and  make  constant  use  of  it  in  my  in- 
Btructions." 

NOAH  PORTER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  PresiOent  Of  Tale  CoZZesre.- -"  I  am  delighted 
that  you  have  published  Janet's  '  Final  Causes '  in  an  improved  form  and  at  a 
price  which  brings  It  within  ths  reach  cf  many  who  desire  to  possess  it.  It  is,  in 
my  opinion,  the  most  suggestive  treatise  on  this  important  topic  which  la  access- 
ible in  our  language."' 

THE  HUMAN  INTELLECT.  By  NOAH  PORTER,  D.D..  LL.D., 
late  President  of  Yale  College.  With  an  Introduction  upon 
Psychology  and  the  H.uman  Soul.    8vo,  S5.00. 

The  author  has  not  only  designed  tt  furnish  a  text  book  which  shall 
be  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  scientvSc  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the 
many  students  of  psychology  and  specidative  philosophy  who  are  found 
in  our  higher  institutions  of  learning,  but  also  to  prepai-e  a  volume 
which  may  guide  the  advanced  student  to  a  clear  understanding  and  a 
just  estimate  of  the  questions  which  have  perpetually  appeared  and 
reappeared  in  the  history  of  philosophy. 

THE  BRITISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.-" President  Porter's  work,  the  result 
of  thirty  years'  prc'csslonal  labor,  l3  not  only  the  most  important  philosophical 
work  that  has  appeared  in  our  language  since  Sir  William  Hamilton's,  but  its 
form  as  a  manual  makes  it  invaluable  to  students." 

THE  PRINCETON  REVIEW.— "-\itcr  a  careful  csamlnation  of  this  truly  great 
work,  we  are  ready  to  pronounce  it  the  most  complete  and  exhaustive  exhibition 
of  the  cognitive  faculties  of  the  human  soul  to  be  found  in  our  language,  and,  so 
far  as  we  know.  In  any  language.  The  work  is  a  monument  of  the  author's  in- 
Elght,  industry,  learning,  and  judgment ;  one  of  the  great  productions  of  our 
time ;  an  honor  to  our  country,  and  a  fresh  proof  that  genuine  philosophy  has  not 
died  out  among  us." 

ELEMENTS  OF  INTELLECTUAL  SCIENCE.  A  Manual  Tor 
Schools  and  Colleges.  By  NOAH  PORTER,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
late  President  cf  Yale  College.    8vo,  S3. 00. 

This  is  an  abridgment  of  the  a  .thor's  "  Human  Intellect,"  contain- 
ing all  the  matter  necessary  for  use  in  the  class-room,  and  has  been  in- 
troduced as  a  text-book  in  Yale,  Dartmouth,  Bowdoin,  Oberlin,  Bates, 
Hamilton,  Vassar,  and  Smith  Colleges  ;  Wesleyan,  Ohio,  Lehigh,  and 
Wooster  Universities,  and  many  other  colleges,  academies,  normal  and 
high  schools. 

THE  NEW  YORK  WORLD.— "The  abridgment  la  very  well  done,  tbe  state- 
ments being  terse  and  perspicuous. " 

THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE.— " Presents  the  leading  facts  of  Intellectual 
science  from  the  author's  point  of  view,  with  clearness  and  vigor." 


CHARLES  8CRIBNEES  SONS' 


ELEMENTS  OF  MORAL  SCIENCE,  Theoretical  and  Practical. 
By   NOAH   PORTER,   D.D.,  LL.D.,   late   President  of  Yale 
College.    8vo,  S3.00. 
This  treatise  is  intended  primarily  for  the  nse  of  college  and  uni- 
versity students,  and  is  prepared  with  reference  to  the  class-room.     It 
is  in  two  parts  :  the  first  treats  with  great  fullness  "  The   Tlieory  of 
Duty,'"  and    unfolds   comprehensively  the   psychology  of   the   moral 
powers  and  the  nature  of  the  moral  relations.     The  second  division, 
"  The  Practice  of  Duty  or  Ethics,'"  takes  up  the  difiierent  classes  of 
duties  with  a  view  to  the  practical  application  of  the  principles  of 
moral  science  to  the  questions  arising  in  every  department  of  human 
activity.     In  every  respect  President  Porter's  work  is  abreast  of  the 
time,  and  leaves  no  controverted  point  undefended. 

GEORGE  S,  N\ORR\S,  Professor  of  Ethics,  UniversitT/  of  Michigan.— "  I  h&ve 
read  the  work  wltli  great  interest,  and  parts  of  it  •witli  entUasiasm.  It  is  a  vast 
improvement  on  any  of  the  current  text  books  of  ethics.  It  is  tolerant  and 
catholic  in  tone ;  not  superficially,  but  soundjy,  inductive  in  method  and  ten- 
dency, and  rich  in  practical  suggestion." 

E.  G.  ROBINSON,  President  Brown  C^nirersiiy.— "It  has  all  the  distinguish- 
ing marks  of  the  author's  work  on  '  The  Human  Intellect.'  is  full  and  comprehen- 
Blve  in  its  treatment,  dealing  largely  with  current  discussions,  and  very  naturally 
follows  it  as  a  text  book  for  the  class-room." 

JULIUS  H.  SEELYE,  President  Amlierst  College.— "It  is  copious  and  clear, 
with  ample  scholarship  and  remarkable  insight,  and  I  am  sure  that  all  teachers 
of  Moral  Science  will  find  it  a  valuable  aid  la  their  instructions." 

OUTLINES   OF   MORAL    SCIENCE.     By   ARCHIBALD    ALEX- 
ANDER, D.D.,  LL.D.    12mo,  S1.50. 

This  book  is  elementary  in  its  character,  and  is  marked  by  great 
clearness  and  pimplicity  cf  style.  It  is  intended  to  lay  the  foundations 
and  elucidate  the  principles  of  the  Philosophy  of  Morals.  It  is  widely 
used  in  colleges  and  other  institutions  of  learning,  and  is  specially 
adapted  for  students  whose  age,  or  the  time  at  whose  disposal,  doea 
not  permit  the  use  of  the  more  extended  and  abstruse  works  on  ethics. 

THE  THEORY  OF  MORALS.    By  PAUL  JANET,  Member  of  the 
French    Academy.     Translated    under   the    supervision    of 
President  Noah  Porter.    8vo,  S2.50. 
Prof.  Janet  in  this  book  gives  us  not  only  a  clear  and  concise  exam- 
ination of  the  whole  study  of  moral  science,  but  he  has  introduced  into 
the  discussion  many  elements   which  have  hitherto  been  too  much 
neglected.     The  first  principles  of  moral  science  and  the  fundamental 
idea  of  morals  the  author  describes  with  much  precision,  and  presents 
an  interesting  and  systematic  exposition  of  them. 

SCIENCE.—"  The  book  has  lucidity  and  Is  full  of  learning.  It  is  hardly  extrav 
agant  to  say  that  so  clear  and  picturesque  a  treatise,  in  the  hands  of  an  alfert 
teaoher,  might  save  the  study  of  ethics  from  ita  almost  inevitable  fate  of  bemg 
wry  dull." 


HISTORY    OF    PHILOSOPHY. 


HISTORY  OF  PHJLOSOPHY.  By  Prof.  FRSEDRICH  UEBER- 
WEG.  Translated  by  Prof.  C.  S.  Morris,  of  Michigan  Uni- 
versity. Edited  by  Noali  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President 
of  Yale  Coilegs,  and  Philip  Schaff,  D.D.  Vol.  I.-Ancient 
and  Mediaeval;  Vol.  II -Modern.    2  vols.,  8vo,  S5.00. 

In  its  universal  scope,  and  its  full  and  exhaustive  literature  of  the 
Bubject.  Ueberwegs  "History  of  Philosophy"  has  no  equal.  The 
characteristic  features  of  the  work  are  the  compendious  presentatioa 
of  doctrines,  the  survey  of  the  literature  relating  to  each  philosophical 
system,  biographical  notices,  the  discussion  of  controverted  historical 
points,  and^compressed  criticisms  of  doctrines  from  the  standpoint  of 
modern  science  and  sound  logic. 

THE  BRITiSM  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.— "The  work  is  concise  and  clear,  csact 
and  susgestive,  comprelienslve  and  critical.  It  contains  a  complete  presentation 
of  the  different  philosophical  schools,  and  describes,  with  sufflcient  minuteness, 
the  principal  doctrines  -which  belong  to  each  system,  and  to  subordinate  branches 
of  each  system ;  by  which  means  a  distinct  picture  is  placed  before  the  mind  of 
the  reader.  It  meets  at  once  the  minds  of  the  ordinary  student  and  of  the  in- 
dependent inquirer." 

THE  N.  Y.  EVANGELIST.— "TaHngthe whole  together,  it  furnishes  the  most 
complete  and  reliable  apparatus  for  the  study  of  philosophy  which  has  ever  been 
placed  In  the  hands  of  American  students." 

REALISTIC  PHILOSOPHY.  Defended  in  a  Philosophic  Series. 
By  JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Princeton 
College.  VoM.-Expository;  Vol.  2.-Historical  and  Critical. 
2  vols.,    12mo,  $3.00. 

In  the  first  volume  the  principal  philosophic  questions  of  the  day 
are  discussed,  including  the  Tests  of  Tnith,  Causation.  Development, 
and  the  Character  of  our  World.  In  the  second  volume  the  same  ques- 
tions are  treated  historically.  The  systems  of  the  philosophers  who 
have  discussed  them  are  stated  and  examined,  and  the  truth  and  error 
in  each  of  them  carefully  pointed  out. 

THE  N.  Y.  OBSERVER.— "Its  style  Is  so  clear  and  direct.  Its  presentation  of  the 
whole  subject  is  so  natural  and  forcible,  that  many  persons  who  habitually  ignors 
discussions  of  abstract  topics,  would  be  charmed  into  a  new  intellectual  interest 
by  giving  Dr.  McCosh's  work  a  careful  consideration." 

HARPER'S  MAGAZINE.— "These  eminently  cogent  and  instructive  volnmea 
are  designed  for  exposition  and  defence  of  fundamental  truths.  The  distinct  but 
correlated  subjects  arc  treated  with  equal  simplicity  and  power,  and  cover  in 
brief  much  of  the  ground  occupied  by  larger  pubUcations,  together  With  much  oa 
JiMiepeaderit  lines  of  thought  that  lie  outside  their  plan." 


CHARLES  SGRIBNER'S  80NB- 


MODERN  PHILOSOPHY.  From  Descartes  to  Schopenhauer  and 
Hartmann.  By  Prof.  FRANCIS  BOWEN,  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity.   8vo,  S3.00. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  has  been  to  furnish,  within  moderate 
compass,  a  comprehensive  and  intelligible  account  of  the  metaphysical 
Bystems  of  the  great  men  who  have  been  the  leaders  of  European 
thought  on  philosophical  subjects  for  nearly  three  centuries.  Special 
treatises,  such  as  Kant's  "Critique"  and  Hartmann's  "Philosophy 
of  the  Unconscious,"  are  made  the  subjects  of  elaborate  commentary, 
and  expounded  in  all  their  leading  features,  with  great  care  and 
minuteness. 

THE  N.  Y.  EVENING  POST.— "Excellent  In  every  respect;  clear,  scliolarly, 
vigoroas,  often  vivacious,  full  of  sound  learning,  acute  criticism,  genial  appreci- 
ation, and  tlie  best  spirit  of  pWlosophy." 

DESCARTES  AND  H5S  SCHOOL.  By  KUNO  FISCHER.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Third  and  Revised  German  Edition,  by  J.  P, 
Gordy,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Pedagogics  in  Ohio  University. 
Edited  by  Noah  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D.    8v0j  $3.50. 

Kuno  Fischer  has  the  rare  art  of  combining  French  lucidity  of 
exposition  with  German  thoroughness  and  profundity. 

His  volume  on  Descartes  is  divided  into  four  parts  :  a  general  in- 
troduction ;  the  biography  of  Descartes  ;  an  exposition  and  criticism  of 
his  system  ;  and  an  account  of  its  development  and  modification  by 
the  occasionalists. 

PROF.  GEORGE  T.  LADD.— "As  done  into  good  and  clear  English  by  Dr. 
Gordy,  it  has  a  combination  of  excellent  qualities  that  can  be  found  iu  no  other 
Bimllar  work.  It  is  at  the  same  time  exhaustive  and  not  tedious,  popular  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word,  and  yet  accurate  and  scholarly— a  thoroughly  readable, 
trustworthy,  and  improving  history  of  modem  speculative  thought." 

GERMAN  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  TO-DAY.    The  Empirical  School, 
by  Th.  RIBOT,  Director  of  the  Revue  Philosophique.   Trans- 
lated from  the  Second  French  Edition,  by  Jas.  M.  Baldwini 
B.A.,  Fellow  Princeton  College.    With  a  Preface  by  James 
McCcsh,  DD.,  LL.D.    Crown  8vo,  S2.00. 
The  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  an  account  of  the  valuable  re- 
searches made  in  the  field  of  psycho-physical  inquiry  by  German  in- 
vestigators, beginning  with  Herbart  and   his  school,  and  continuing 
with   the    researches  of  Lotze,    Miiller,   Weber,    Helmholtz,   Wundt, 
Fechner,  and  minor  scientists. 

THE  N.  Y.  SUN.— "A  work  likely  to  be  made  a  text  book  in  Ajuerican  Uni- 
versities, this  version  offers  for  the  first  time  to  English  readers  a  conspectus  of 
contemporary  German  speculation  on  the  relations  of  the  mind  to  the  brain.  In 
this  volume  will  be  found  discussed  with  admirable  classification  the  discoveries, 
theories,  and  tendencies  of  such  men  as  Herbart,  Lotze,  Fechner,  etc." 


CHRISTIAN   EVIDENCES  AND 
HOMILETICS. 


THE  GROUNDS  OF  THEISTiC  AND  CHRISTIAN  BELIEF.  By 
Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  Yale  College.    Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

FROM  THE  PREFACE.—"  TMs  volume  embraces  a  discussion  of  the  evidence^ 
of  both  natural  and  revealed  religion.  Prominence  is  given  to  topics  having 
Bpecial  interest  at  present  from  their  connection  -svlth  modem  theories  and  diffl- 
culties.  The  argument  of  design,  and  the  bearing  of  evolutionary  doctrines 
on  Its  validity,  are  fully  considered.  I  have  sought  to  direct  the  reader  into  lines 
of  reflection  -which  may  serve  to  impress  him  with  the  truth  contained  in  the 
remark  that  the  strongest  proof  of  Christianity  is  afforded  by  Christianity  itself, 
and  by  Christendom  as  an  existing  fact.  I  venture  to  indulge  the  hope  that  they 
may  derive  from  it  some  aid  in  clearing  up  perplexities,  and  some  new  light  upon 
the  nature  of  the  Christian  faith  and  its  relation  to  the  Scriptures." 

JULIUS  H.  SEELYE,  President  of  Amherst  College.— "  I  tLnd  it  as  I  should  ex- 
pect it  to  be,  wise  and  candid,  and  convincing  to  an  honest  mind.  I  congratulate 
you  upon  Its  publication,  in  which  you  seem  to  me  to  have  rendered  a  high 
public  service." 

^  PROF.  JAMES  o.  MURRAY,  Of  Princeton  College.— "The  volmaemeBta  here 
a  great  want,  and  meets  it  well.  It  is  eminently  fitted  to  meet  the  honest  doubts 
of  some  of  our  best  young  men.  Its  fairness  and  candor,  its  learning  and  abUity 
In  argument.  Its  thorough  handling  of  modern  objections— all  these  qnaUties  fit  It 
lor  such  a  service,  and  a  great  service  It  is." 

ESSAYS  ON  THE  SUPERNATURAL  ORIGIN  OF  CHRISTIAN- 
ITY. By  Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor 
of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Yale  College.  8vo,  new  and 
enlarged  edition,  S2. 50. 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW.— "Able  and  scholarly  essays  on  the  Super- 
natural Origin  of  Christianity,  In  wlilch  Prof.  Fisher  discusses  such  subjects  aa 
the  genuineness  of  the  Gospel  of  John,  Baur's  view  of  early  Christian  History  and 
Literature,  and  the  mythical  theory  of  Strauss." 

THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE.— "His  volume  evinces  rare  versatility  of  Intellect, 
with  a  scholarship  no  less  sound  and  judicious  In  Its  tone  and  extensive  in  Ita 
attainments  than  it  is  modest  In  Its  pretensions." 

THE  BRITISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.— "We  know  not  where  the  Student  Will 
find  a  more  satisfactory  guide  in  relation  to  the  great  questions  which  have  grown 
up  between  the  friends  of  the  Christian  revelation  and  the  most  able  of  its  aasaU- 
bats,  witMn  the  memoi-y  of  the  present  generation." 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS' 


THE  PHILOSOPHIC  BASIS  OF  THEISM.  An  Examination  of  the 
Personality  of  Man,  to  Ascertain  his  Capacity  to  Know  and 
Serve  God,  and  the  Validity  of  the  Principle  Underlyingthc 
Defense  of  Theism.    By  SAMUEL  HARRIS,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Systematic  Theology  in  Yale  College.    8vo,  $3.50. 
Dr.  Harris  embodies  in  his  work  the  results  of  his  long  meditation 
on  the  highest  themes,  and  his  long  discussion   and  presentation  of 
these  truths  in  the  class-room.      His  fundamental  positions  are  thor- 
oughly in  harmony  with  soundest  modem  thought  and  most  trust- 
worthy modem  knowledge. 

THE  INDEPENDENT.-" It  is  rare  that  a  work,  which  Is  of  necessity,  bo 
severely  metaphysical  In  both  topics  and  treatment,  is  so  enlivened  by  the 
varied  contributions  of  a  widely  cultivated  mind  from  a  Uberal  course  of 
reading.  Eis  passionate  and  candid  argument  cannot  faU  to  command  the 
respect  of  any  antagonist  of  the  Atheistic  or  Agnostic  schools,  who  will  take 
the  pains  to  read  his  criticisms  or  to  review  his  argument.  In  respect  to  coohiess 
and  dignity  and  self-possession,  his  work  is  an  exceUent  model  for  scientists, 
metaphysicians,  and  theologians  of  every  complexion." 

THE  HARTFORD  COURANT.-" Professor  Harris'  horizon-lines  are  uncon- 
tracted.  His  survey  of  the  entire  realm  he  traverses  is  accurate,  patient,  and 
considerate.  No  objections  are  evaded.  No  conclusions  are  reached  by  saltatory 
movements.  The  utmost  fairness  and  candor  characterize  his  discussions.  No 
more  thoroughly  scientific  work  In  plan  or  method  or  spirit  has  been  done  in  our 
time.  On  almost  every  page  one  meets  with  evidences  of  a  wide  and  reflec- 
tive reading,  not  only  of  philosophy,  but  of  poetry  and  fiction  as  well,  whlcH 
enriches  and  Illumines  the  whole  course  of  thought." 

THE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD.  By  SAMUEL  HARRIS, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  Yale  Col- 
lege.   8vo,  $3.50. 

In  this  volume  Dr.  Harris  presents  a  statement  of  the  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  God,  and  of  the  reality  of  His  revelation  of  Himself 
in  the  experience  or  consciousness  of  men,  and  the  verification  of  the 
same  by  His  further  revelation  of  Himself  in  the  constitution  and 
ongoing  of  the  universe,  and  in  Christ. 

PROF.  WM.  G.  T.  SHEDD,  D.D.,  In  The  rresbyterian  Review. ~"8nch  a 
work  is  not  brought  out  In  a  day,  but  is  the  growth  of  years  of  professional  study 
and  reflection.  Few  books  on  apologetics  have  been  recently  produced  that  will 
be  more  influential  and  formative  upon  the  mind  of  the  theological  or  philosophi- 
cal student,  or  more  useful.  It  is  calculated  to  influence  opinions,  and  to  Influence 
them  truthfully,  seriously,  and  stron^y." 

BISHOP  HURST,  m  TTie  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate.— "We  ao  not  ^ow 
a  better  work  among  recent  publications  than  this  one  for  building  up  old  hopes 
and  giving  a  new  strength  to  one's  faith.  The  book  is  thoroughly  evangelic, 
fresh,  and  well  wrought  out.  It  Is  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  American 
tiieology." 


Realistic  Philosophy, 

DEFENDED  IN  A  PHILOSOPHIC  SERIES 
By  JAMES   McCOSH,    D.D.,    LLD., 

President  of  Princeton  College. 


Two  Vols.,  12mo;   each  $1.50. 


In  these  two  volumes  Dr.  McCosli  has  collected  his  discussions 
of  the  principal  philosophic  questions  of  the  day,  formerly  issued 
in  his  Philosophic  Series,  which.  The  Independent  saysj  "is  not 
unlikely  to  prove  in  the  end  the  most  useful  popular  service 
which  Dr.  McCosh  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of  right  thinking 
and  to  sound  philosophy  of  life." 

VOL,  I.— EXPOSITORY. 

In  this  part  of  the  Series  the  principal  philosophic  questions  of  the  day 
are  discussed,  including  the  Tests  of  Truth,  Causation,  Development,  and 
the  Character  of  our  World. 

General  Introduction. — Wliat  an  American  Philosophy  should  he. 

I.  Criteria  of  Diverse  Kinds  of  Truth. 

II.  Energy,  Efficient  and  Final  Cause.  An  attempt  is  here  made 
to  clear  up  the  subject  of  Causation  which  has  become  considerably  con- 
fused. 

III.  Development,  What  it  can  do  and  What  it  cannot  do. 
Development  is  here  presented  so  as  to  show  that  it  is  not  opposed  to 
religion,  and  that  the  conclusions  drawn  from  it  by  some  of  its  defenders 
are  not  legitimate. 

IV.  Certitude,  Providence,  and  Prayer,  with  an  inquiry  as  to  what 
is  the  character  of  our  world,  showing  that  it  is  neither  optimist  nor  pessi- 
mist, but  going  on  toward  perfection. 

VOL.  II.— HISTORICAL. 

In  this  part  the  same  questions  are  treated  historically.     The  systems  of 
the  philosophers  who  have  discussed  them  are  stated  and  examined,  and 
the  truth  and  error  in  each  of  them  carefully  pointed  out. 
General  Introduction. — Rralism;  its  place  in  the  various  Philosophies. 

I.  Locke's  Theory  of  Knowledge,  with  a  notice  of  Berkeley.  It  is 
sliown  that  Locke  held  by  a  body  of  truth,  and  that  he  has  often  been 
misunderstood  ;  but  that  he  has  not  by  his  experience  theory  laid  a  sure 
foundation  of  knowledge. 

II.  Agnosticism  of  Hume  and  Huxley,  with  a  notice  of  the  Scottish 
School.  It  is  necessary  to  examine  Hume's  Scepticism,  but  it  is  best  to 
do  so  in  the  defense  of  it  by  Huxley. 

III.  A  Criticism  of  the  Critical  Philosophy  showing  that  Kant 
has  stated  and  defended  most  important  truths,  but  has  undermined 
knowledge,  by  making  the  mind  begin  with  appearances  and  not  with 
things. 

IV.  Herbert  Spencer's  Philosophy  as  culminating  in  his  Ethics. 
Here  there  will  be  a  careful  examination  of  his  physiological  utilitarianism. 


BEGINNING  OF  VOLUME   FOUR. 

ScRiBNER's  •:•  Magazine 

FOR  JULY  CONTAINS  THE  SECOND  OF 

THE  GREAT  RAILWAY  ARTICLES, 

ENTITLED 

FEATS   OF  RAILWAY  ENGINEERING, 

By  JOHN   BOGART,  State  Engineer  of  New  York. 

The  next  article  in  the  Railway  series  will  be  "  American  Locomotives  and  Cars," 
by  M.  N.  Forney,  to  appear  in  the  August  number,  to  be  followed  by  one  on  "  Passenger 
Travel,"  by  General  Horace  Porter,  in  the  September  number.  New  York  Times  :  "  The 
Railway  series,  which  is  begun  in  the  June  number  of  Scrilmers,  promises  to  attract  new 
attention  to  this  admirable  periodical.  There  is  not  in  American  industrial  life  a  topic 
which  could  possess  a  wider  interest  or  which  affects  more  directly  the  every-day  experi- 
ence and  observation  of  men  and  women." 

OTHER   CONTENTS   IN   THE   JULY    NUMBER   ARE: 

LIFE  AND  TRAVEL  IN  MODERN  GREECE-  By  Thomas  D.  Sey- 
mour.    Illustrated  from  original  drawings  by  F.  D.  Millet,  and  from  photographs. 

A   LONDON    LIFE.     In  four  parts.     Part  second.     By  Henry  James. 

AN  ASTRONOMER'S  SUMMER  TRIP.  By  Prof.  Charles  A.  Young. 
With  illustrations  from  photographs  made  by  the  American  Eclipse  Expedition 
of  1887. 

POPULAR  AUTHORS.     By  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 

GETTYSBURG — A  Battle  Ode.  By  George  Parsons  Lathrop.  Passages 
from  the  poem  to  be  read  before  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  at 
Gettysburg,  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  battle,  July  3,  188S.  With  a 
head-piece  from  a  battle-sketch,  by  W.  H.  Shelton. 

FIRST  HARVESTS.  Chapters  XXL-XXIII.  By  F.  J.  Stimson.  (To  be 
continued.) 

MID-SUMMER.    (Poem.)    By  Allan  SiMSON  BoTSFORD. 

DEATH  AND  JUSTICE.     (Poem.)    By  Graham  R.  Tomson. 

MAESTRO  AMBROGIO.     (Short  story.)    By  T.  R.  Sullivan. 

SOLITUDE.     (Poem.)     By  Arlo  Bates. 


25  CENTS  A  NUMBER,  $3.00  A  YEAR. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,  743  B'way,  N.Y. 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co.,  Astor  Place,  New  York. 


339  TB;.  B5ii 


:eton   Theological  Semmar 


1    1012  01127  0610 


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